Court halts EDSA provincial bus ban

A Quezon City court temporarily halted the implementation of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s ban on provincial buses along EDSA.

In a July 31 order, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 223 issued a writ of preliminary injunction enjoining authorities from implementing government circulars concerning the ban, upon the posting of a P1 million bond by the bus operators who challenged the prohibition.

The MMDA had released a regulation prohibiting or revoking the issuance of business permits for public utility bus terminals and operators along EDSA.

In a memorandum circular of its own, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board ordered the modification of the endpoint of provincial bus routes and prohibited them from passing through the busy thoroughfare.

Several bus operators challenged the ban before the court, and while the main case remained pending, the judge found “just cause” to issue an injunction, an immediate form of relief.

Among other findings, the trial court said the LTFRB’s claim that public land transportation service contributes to the worsening traffic situation in the metro, particularly along Edsa “has no basis.”

“It is not within the court’s competence to determine if it is indeed the public land transportation service and the presence of terminals along EDSA that are causing the ‘horrendous’ traffic,” the court ruled.

“There is likewise no study referred to in the issuance to prove the validity of such statement,” it added.

The court gave the MMDA and the LTFRB, through the Office of the Solicitor General, until August 14 to file their answer to the civil case. — DVM, GMA News