DOTr: EDSA just too congested

There would still be traffic congestion on EDSA despite efforts by the government to address the problem, a Department of Transportation (DOTr) official said yesterday.

EDSA is currently at “130 percent overcapacity,” which means that even if the government’s traffic solutions reduce the number of vehicles by 10 percent the highway would still be congested, said Assistant Secretary Mark Richmund de Leon.

The DOTr’s accomplishment report showed that 7,500 vehicles pass through EDSA per hour per direction or 1,500 higher than its maximum capacity of 6,000 vehicles per hour per direction.

De Leon said 75 percent of vehicles passing through EDSA are private cars while 25 percent are public cars.

He said the DOTr, through the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board ( LTFRB), has added more point- to- point ( P2P) buses to give motorists an alternative. The LTFRB is an attached agency of the DOTr.

The P2P buses were first introduced during the administration of former LTFRB chairman Winston Ginez in December last year to encourage private car owners to use the modernized public transport system.

Citing a study of the P2P buses, De Leon said these buses helped reduced the number of private cars on EDSA by at least 40 percent, but said the congestion remains the same.

He said the DOTr plans to add more routes to entice more motorists to leave their vehicles behind and use the government’s P2P buses.

Meanwhile, the DOTr has in place some short- term solutions that would temporarily ease traffic congestion in Metro Manila.

The DOTr and the mall operators in Metro Manila have recently agreed to stop the weekly mall sales to avoid traffic gridlocks during the Christmas rush.

De Leon said that the DOTr also asked mall operators for a comprehensive traffic management plan, set a moratorium on government roadwork, except for flagship projects; and imposed no window hours for the number coding scheme along EDSA and other major roads.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority ( MMDA) general manager Tim Orbos, a member of the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic, also admitted that there is no instant solution that would make traffic jams on EDSA disappear.

He said short- term traffic solutions that the government has imposed will temporarily help decongest traffic while it works on long- term solutions.

Orbos said the long- term solutions that the government has started to work on are the expansion of the Metro Rail Transit and the Light Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2.

He said commuters should be patient as the government is doing its best to address Metro Manila’s traffic problem.