MMDA: 22,000 vehicles added to daily EDSA traffic

More than 22,000 vehicles were added to the average daily volume of vehicular traffic along EDSA this year and this would increase during the runup to the Christmas season, an official said yesterday.

From an average of 383,828 vehicles plying EDSA daily last year, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has recorded an average of 405,882 vehicles as of August, according to MMDA spokesperson Celine Pialago.

This meant there were an additional 22,054 vehicles plying EDSA each day, she added.

Motorcycles registered the highest increase. An average of 86,082 motorcycles went through EDSA daily last year compared to 110,167 as of this month – an increase of 27.98 percent or 24,085 motorcycles.

Cars on EDSA increased by 1.63 percent, from 251,628 cars each day last year to 255,732 as of this month, up by 4,104 cars.

City buses plying EDSA increased by 11.65 percent or 226 buses, from 1,940 buses last year to 2,166 buses as of this month.

Estimating that the number of vehicles on EDSA would increase by an average of 20 percent during the last third of the year, Pialago said this means an average of 487,000 vehicles would use EDSA every day starting tomorrow.

She said the MMDA would observe “strict enforcement of existing policies” until the agency can present new proposals to the Metro Manila Council, the MMDA’s policymaking body composed of the metropolis’ 17 mayors.

The MMDA’s earlier proposals to ban driver-only vehicles and provincial buses on EDSA have been met with opposition.

Pialago earlier said the MMDA would welcome “extreme” ideas to address the worsening traffic congestion on EDSA, such as making EDSA exclusive to southbound vehicles and C-5 Road northbound and a vehicle volume reduction scheme based on car brand.