Fines eyed for erring passengers

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is considering imposing hefty fines on bus passengers caught getting on or off areas outside designated bus stops, an official said yesterday.

MMDA officer-in-charge Tim Orbos said bus passengers are to blame for holding up traffic if they insist on this practice.

“They take the bus outside the designated bus stop. We can penalize them because they thought that buses are like jeepneys, especially if they insist they can alight in the middle of the streets,” he said. 

The MMDA has created bus stops along EDSA and other major thoroughfares in Metro Manila through the agency’s Ordinance No. 18 in 1991.

Under the ordinance, “doors of moving buses shall remain closed in between designated stops to avoid loading and unloading of passengers.”

In connection with that, Orbos said that they revived last week the enforcement of the “closed door policy” of the MMDA.

He said that some MMDA traffic enforcers carried placards along EDSA to remind bus drivers of the “closed door policy.”

Violators will be fined P1,000 and the vehicles will be impounded.

Orbos said they have yet to determine the fine that will be imposed on erring passengers.