LTFRB bans UV Express vehicles on EDSA

UV Express Service vehicles are now banned on EDSA, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has ruled as part of the Duterte administration's bid to ease traffic congestion on Metro Manila’s main highway.

"UV Express Services are not allowed to traverse EDSA, except when crossing the same," Memorandum Circular 2016-009 said, effectively banning the service beginning Saturday, July 30.

The circular was signed by Board Members Ronaldo F. Corpus and Antonio Inton, Jr. on July 28.

It said UV Express vehicles were no longer required to traverse a specified or particularized route as they are now allowed to traverse the "shortest and/or most convenient route in reaching their endpoints/destinations."

To recall, a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2014 revealed that the gridlock plaguing the streets of Metro Manila was costing the Philippines at least P2.4 billion a day.

In 2015, then National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan estimated the economic loss from traffic jams at P3 billion a day.

Without intervention, JICA said that the economic cost of the daily gridlock was likely to reach P6 billion a day by 2030.  —NB, GMA News