EDSA toll eyed; PUJ phaseout to proceed

MANILA, Philippines — Motorists using EDSA may have to pay a fee or toll at certain hours of the day beginning next year, if the Department of Transportation (DOTr) would have its way.

In an interview with “The Chiefs” Wednesday night on OneNews/TV 5, DOTr Assistant Secretary Alberto Suansing said the proposal to make EDSA a toll way is seen to help reduce volume on Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfare as well as generate additional revenue for the government.

“As far as EDSA is concerned, once we have fixed public transport there, we will also be introducing tolling, just like in Singapore,” Suansing said.

“Let’s say for example… from 7 in the morning until 10 in the morning and then again 4 p.m. until 9 p.m., once you pass in that stretch of EDSA, let’s say from Quezon Avenue up to Roxas Boulevard, you’ll have to pay toll,” he said.

Suansing said the plan is to implement an open system in which there will be a uniform charge for motorists.

He said Radio Frequency Identification or RFID technology would also be utilized for the planned system.

Suansing said the proposal is eyed for implementation by next year, as the DOTr is currently focused on its EDSA busway project.

“You can only do that if you have efficient transport facilities in that corridor,” he said.

The EDSA busway project aims to reform the city bus system along EDSA by reducing bus routes to 30 with 550 units from 61 with 3,340 buses.

So far, the DOTr said 2,407 concrete barriers have been delivered, and the donated steel bollards to enclose some of the stretches of the highway have been received by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

The agency said 15 bus stations have also been completed, 10 are operational at the median and four at curbside. The remaining stations are still waiting for delivery of the barriers.

Some 284 buses are also currently running the EDSA busway system, according to the DOTr.

As part of the EDSA rehabilitation program, protected bike lanes will also be established along the avenue.

“We expect the public to rally behind this because this is for them also. We want to improve the system. What our Secretary (Arthur Tugade) wants is to change the public transportation landscape here in the Philippines because it is very inefficient,” Suansing said.

Meanwhile, Suansing said the planned phase-out of traditional jeepneys as part of public utility vehicle modernization program would push through by yearend.

“We have a program, the public utility vehicle modernization program, that started two years ago and traditional jeepneys were supposed to be phased out last June were it not for the pandemic. So what we did was we moved the schedule to the end of the year,” he said.

“This is what will happen. After December 2020, all operators who have not integrated their operations with other jeepney operators in a certain route, they will just be given a provisional authority. That means when there is someone or a group who applies on their route that is integrated or can comply with the program, then they will get the franchise and they (the traditional jeepneys) will have to stop operating,” Suansing said.

Sen. Grace Poe said on Wednesday that the government’s planned phase-out of traditional jeepneys should not be implemented during the coronavirus pandemic as provided for under the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2.