Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) received the approval of the Metro Manil Council (MMC) to implement a measure that seeks to reduce the number of vehicles along Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA). The said measure involves banning passenger cars with just one passenger on board during rush hours.
The HOV or High Occupancy Vehicle scheme seeks to encourage carpooling as it stipulates that only vehicles with two or more passengers will be able to traverse EDSA. The MMDA says that around 70 percent of vehicles along EDSA only have one passenger at a time.
It will be recalled that the agency tried to implement a similar scheme last December. It, however, fizzled out a week after its dry run. While that scheme designated a specific lane on EDSA, the latest one admittedly has a few grey areas that need to be clarified. One question is, will there be a specific lane designated as an HOV lane? And what time is rush hour for the MMDA?
The MMDA has since been hit with a lot of flak for this new move. Many believe that instead of hitting private cars with solo occupants, it should focus on more pressing issues such as illegal parking and the like. Still, the agency will conduct a dry run on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 to see just how effective its new traffic reduction scheme will be.
