MMDA to penalize provincial bus ban violators

MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will start penalizing drivers of provincial buses in connection with the ban on such buses along EDSA next week, an official said yesterday.

The bus ban will be enforced along with the dry run of the ban on driver-only cars on EDSA during rush hours.

 Jojo Garcia, MMDA general manager, told reporters they will start the provincial bus ban on Aug. 15, which means that these buses will be prohibited from certain portions of EDSA from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

 For southbound provincial buses, they are allowed up to Cubao, Quezon City only while northbound provincial buses are allowed until Pasay City only. The MMDA said these buses will be exempted from the agency’s number coding scheme. 

 While implementing the provincial bus ban on the ground, Garcia said personnel at the MMDA’s metrobase in Makati City will be monitoring the dry run of the ban on driver-only cars on EDSA. 

Garcia said the two traffic schemes are seen to significantly reduce the number of private vehicles along EDSA by about 148,516 to 185,645 units and remove 8,000 provincial buses from Metro Manila’s longest highway.