Adjusted government work hours, adjusted mall hours, banning e-bikes and e-trikes on major roads—many new measures and proposals are being thrown around now to help solve the problem that is Metro Manila traffic. And here’s yet another one.
According to a report, former Manila City mayor and party-list member Lito Atienza has suggested allowing ordinary motorists to use the EDSA Busway during off-peak hours.
“Buses can be given this privilege during rush hours—two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening,” Atienza reportedly wrote in a letter to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “The rest of the day, let ordinary motorists enjoy the full use of EDSA.
“It is so sad, even tragic, to see one lane empty most of the day while ordinary citizens are cramped in the very limited roadway.”
This sounds a lot like the argument that bike lanes are always ‘empty’ and misses the point that dedicated bus and bike lanes exist to allow faster and safer travel for people haulers and users of alternative mobility. But the ex-mayor-slash-ex-congressman has other suggestions, so let’s run through them for now.
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Atienza also turned his attention to local government leaders—specifically mayors and barangay heads—to ensure their areas of responsibility are free of traffic obstructions that could hinder traffic flow. He called upon them to go after construction companies that store materials and dump debris on sidewalks and inner streets, then leave their mess once the project wraps up. Mall owners, he added, should also ensure proper traffic routing around their establishments.
He also called for the stricter implementation of truck bans and limiting the movement of container vans to off-peak hours.
Finally, he said that traffic enforcers should be focused on enforcement rather than entrapment—that is, they should proactively manage traffic flow and guide motorists rather than waiting for them to violate traffic rules so they could be apprehended and ticketed.
“We believe that if the national and local government leaders, as well as the motorists themselves, work together, we would be able to achieve a smoother flow of traffic in major areas of the country,” Atienza said.
