Business execs urge upgrade, pitch privatization of EDSA bus system
MANILA, Philippines — The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) is asking the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to upgrade the system of the EDSA Busway and bus service on the “Carousel Line” as well as to consider privatizing it along with the commuter rail systems.
MAP is an organization of C-Level executives of the largest local and multinational companies in the Philippines.
In a statement dated August 22, MAP said it sent a letter jointly signed by MAP president Rogelio Singson and MAP Infrastructure Committee Chair Eduardo Yap to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista to prioritize the upgrade of the EDSA busway and the EDSA "Carousel Line."
It also asked the DOTr to look at possibly privatizing the EDSA busway and bus service along with the privatization of the MRT-3, LRT-2, and PNR Commuter lines under a "hybrid mode."
This means the government would be in charge of the infrastructure, while a private entity will operate and be in charge of its maintenance.
Busway upgrades
MAP urged President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to call on government agencies to comply with the National Transport Plan of 2017, which puts forward "people mobility" through public transport and through active mobility, such as walking and biking.
"Currently, busway station platforms and sidewalks are very narrow and grossly inadequate as the space required for them were allocated instead to augment private vehicle lanes pursuant to misguided car-oriented road management policy," MAP said.
The organization’s other busway upgrade recommendations included:
- Increasing the capacity of station platforms to serve more commuters and allow buses dock at the same time
- Build more bus stations and footbridges with concourse for the busway
- Expedite building the donated busway station footbridges
- Resolve the carousel line checkpoints
- Make similar busways in other major Metro Manila commuter corridors
- Create bus-to-train connectivity systems and bus exchange stations
- Decongest the Ayala and McKinley Road stations through alternative routes
- Get “modern high-capacity bi-articulated” electric commuter buses
MAP said the upgrade would help the optimization of the busway system "to achieve its full potential as a cost-effective, efficient, high-capacity urban mass public transport system."
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