EVERYONE HAS RIGHT TO USE EDSA

THE plan of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to prohibit provincial buses along Edsa during peak hours should be reviewed in the interest of genuine public service (“Provincial buses using Edsa to be restricted to certain hours in July,” 6/30/18).

The MMDA would be practically favoring only private car owners at the expense of commuters during peak hours. Everybody, whether car owner or commuter, should have an equal right to road usage.

A passenger bus services as many as 50 passengers per trip, while a car can load only a maximum of five—which, if at all, very seldom happens. By removing buses from Edsa at peak hours, the MMDA will thus be servicing a monumentally less number of people daily than what it normally should.

The indefatigable efforts of the MMDA to minimize traffic congestion in the metropolis is certainly well taken.

But let not the MMDA be seen by the general public as essentially looking only after the convenience of private motorists. That is definitely unacceptable.