LTFRB amends provincial bus routes along EDSA

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has issued a memorandum circular amending the routes of provincial buses with terminals along EDSA.

According to LTFRB Memorandum 2019-031, signed on July 9, all provincial buses coming from the north with terminals along EDSA are to end stop at the Valenzuela Interim Terminal.

Those coming from South Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao with terminals along EDSA in Cubao, Quezon City will end at the Sta. Rosa Interim Terminal.

Buses coming from South Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao with terminals along EDSA in Pasay City will end at the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).

In a separate Viber message to reporters, the LTFRB said the memorandum circular “complements closure of provincial bus terminals along EDSA.”

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has proposed to ban provincial buses from plying along EDSA and sought to close all 47 provincial bus terminals to ease traffic congestion on Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfare.

The MMDA, however, has temporarily suspended the dry run of the provincial bus ban.

In an interview, MMDA General Manager Jojo Garcia said the LTFRB memorandum will “pave the way” for the agency to finally implement their proposed provincial bus ban for EDSA.

Garcia said the circular and the bus ban are among the issues to be discussed by the Metro Manila Council , composed of all the capital region’s mayors. The meeting will happen on Thursday, July 25.

Asked when the MMDA will implement the ban, he said, “It will be soon.”

The circular “shall only take effect upon the closure of all public utility bus terminals along EDSA by concerned local governments and accreditation of the identified interim terminals,” according to the memorandum.

“The routes of all city buses are also deemed provisionally amended, extending their endpoint to the North to Valenzuela Interim Terminal and at Sta. Rosa Interim Terminal and PITX in the South,” it said.

The fares of all affected buses will match the actual distance per kilometer as authorized by the LTFRB, as the routes are either shortened or extended, the board said.

Other provincial bus terminals—not along EDSA—are allowed to operate under a “status quo.”

The circular provides a “window time,” as may be determined by the MMDA, for the affected buses to traverse EDSA.

The AKO BICOL party-list earlier filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition before the Supreme Court to stop the MMDA from implementing the provincial bus ban along EDSA.

Such policy, though creating an inconvenience on the public, would be more beneficial in the future, the MMDA said. —VDS, GMA News