Mayors agree to move provincial bus terminals out of Metro Manila

MANILA, Philippines -- The mayors of Metro Manila have agreed to relocate the provincial bus terminals now in Pasay City and in Cubao in Quezon City to other areas in the outskirts of the metro to lessen traffic congestion particularly on EDSA.

 

The mayors met as members of the Metro Manila Council, the policy-making body of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

 

MMDA Chairman Emerson Carlos said it would be for the local governments of Pasay City and Quezon City to decide when the relocation would happen. Carlos said he hopes the relocation would happen before Congress grants the president emergency powers to solve the ever-worsening traffic crisis of the Metro.

 

“They have approved the removal of the bus terminals in EDSA. It is now up to them (mayors) to prepare for the eventual removal,” said Carlos.

 

Carlos said Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and Pasay City Mayor Antonio Calixto have approved the resolution to relocate the provincial bus terminals.

 

“Although the relocation will not be done immediately, we told them (mayors) to prepare especially with the impending granting of emergency powers on the president as the permits (for the operation of the bus terminals) are being issued by the mayors,” Carlos said.

 

Carlos added that the MMC has also agreed to strictly enforce the “Nose In, Nose Out Policy” at bus terminals. Under the policy, buses are supposed to enter the terminals and maneuver inside, not along EDSA.

 

The MMC, in its resolution, said the move to relocate the bus terminals away from Pasay and Cubao is in line with Duterte's directive, which he issued during his State of the Nation Address, to have all bus terminals on EDSA “to eventually be removed and referred to strategic areas outside of the metropolis with the end of decongesting said major thoroughfare.”

 

The same resolutions aid that “as a matter of policy, no additional provincial bus terminals shall be allowed to be established along EDSA.”

Carlos said that the owners or operators of existing bus terminals were also directed to make the necessary preparations “for their eventual removal from EDSA” and “consequent transfer to strategic areas outside of the metropolis.”

 

With the relocation of the provincial bus terminals, Carlos said traffic flow on EDSA would be improved as provincial buses will no longer be allowed to enter Metro Manila to load or unload passengers.

 

Based on MMDA records, there are 85 provincial bus companies that operate in Metro Manila. Of this, 46 bus companies have terminals on EDSA, particularly at Cubao, Balintawak, and Taft Ave.

 

According to the MMDA, some 3,300 provincial buses and 12,000 city buses pass through EDSA daily.

 

In 2013, President Benigno Aquino III signed Administrative Order No. 40, establishing transport terminals in the north and south of the metropolis to decongest EDSA and restrict provincial buses from entering the major thoroughfare.

 

Under the order, three terminals would be constructed – the North Interim Transport Terminal for provincial buses originating from north of Metro Manila entering by way of the North Luzon Expressway, MacArthur Highway, Mindanao Ave., Quirino Ave., and Commonwealth Ave.; the South Interim Transport Terminal for provincial buses originating from south of Metro Manila entering by way of the South Luzon Expressway; and the Southwest Interim Transport for provincial buses originating from south of Metro Manila entering by way of the Coastal Road and the Manila Cavite Expressway (Cavitex).

 

In 2014, the MMDA and DOTC put up a temporary terminal in Alabang for 556 buses from Southern Luzon which does not have proper terminals in Metro Manila and in 2013 on Coastal Road in Parañaque City for about 1,000 buses from Cavite and Batangas.