New EDSA bus system proposed

MANILA, Philippines — A new and more efficient public bus transportation service on EDSA was urged for the post lockdown period at a forum on public transportation hosted by the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX).

The new bus system is essential to cope in the environment where the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 infection is a constant threat to the wellbeing of commuters, according to Eduardo H. Yap.

Yap was one of the two presenters. He is the chairman of the national affairs committee of FINEX and organizer of the forum.

A key reform measure proposed by Yap is to shift the existing yellow bus lanes from the current curbside location to the inner lanes at the road median adjacent to the MRT-3 line. The existing bus lanes have proven to be ineffective, . Yap said. Any number of buses can enter and overload the yellow bus lanes, and private vehicles block the path of buses when turning to or from side streets. Oftentimes, buses just stagnate on the bus lanes together with other vehicles on the other lanes.

A dedicated and controlled bus way is required for buses to run unimpeded even during traffic-clogged peak traffic hours much like the MRT trains, Yap said. This way, the buses will run like a train and efficiency of the buses way will be optimized with more commuters getting to their destination faster instead of being stuck in traffic. Two lanes are usually required at the station area. The inner lane is used for local service with more stops, while the adjacent outer lane is for express buses to overtake and proceed to their own stations. Beyond the stations, one lane will suffice when bus flow is well regulated.

Shifting the bus way to the median lanes can be implemented as soon new station platforms and the buses are ready with left-sided doors, said Yap. At-grade crosswalks will suffice pending construction of overhead bridges for passengers to cross EDSA from the sidewalk to the stations and for the other way. Safety features for these temporary crosswalks are needed for the safety of crossing commuters. They include rumble strips, speed bumps and signal lights. These crosswalks for transit commuters are widely used in many cities abroad, including Jakarta, Melbourne and even Toronto.

To sustain the reformed bus service, other emergency measures were proposed by Yap. They include right sizing the bus fleet by rationalizing bus franchises that were issued over the past decades and restructuring bus routes, centralized management and central dispatching yards. Corollary to these measures, existing bus operators will be mobilized and bus operations outsourced to a concessionaire or consortium of operators to be supervised by an agency of the Department of Transportation (DOTr).  Outsourcing can be made under the public private partnership (PPP) mode. Other proposed measures include flexible supply of buses to be based on demand where more buses are fielded during peak hours and less during off-peak.