EDSA travel time cut, although not by much

Travel time on EDSA was reduced, but only slightly, in August, according to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). The MMDA said a bus ride from Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City to Monumento in Caloocan City ranged from 1 hour and 56 minutes to two hours and seven minutes. The decrease in travel time was around two minutes to 13 minutes.

A car ride took anything between one hour and five minutes and one hour and 33 minutes, a reduction of around 10 seconds to 27 minutes.

The MMDA conducted the simulation on certain days of August.

In June, the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) declared a seven-minute cut in travel time on the 23.8-kilometer highway. The increase in speed is not affected by what time of the day motorists and commuters travel.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) assumed control over traffic flow in Metro Manila, directing various agencies to work together under a united chain of command, in August.

The MMDA, which previously managed traffic in the metropolis, has joined forces with Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (HPG), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and Land Transportation Office (LTO) to form the I-ACT.

The I-ACT is headed by HPG director, Senior Superintendent Antonio Gardiola Jr.

Traffic enforcers remain administratively under the MMDA, but in the present chain of command, they take their orders from Gardiola.

Tim Orbos, MMDA officer-in-charge, said all efforts of the I-ACT serve as prelude to the emergency powers to President Rodrigo Duterte to solve the massive traffic problems in Metro Manila.

While waiting for the emergency powers to be approved by Congress, Orbos, who is also MMDA general manager, said all agencies involved in the executive branch are starting to work as one unit.

“I-ACT is a prelude to emergency powers, it represents what we can to do traffic,” said Orbos.