The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is opposed to the proposal to allow carpooling on the EDSA Busway. The busway was designed primarily to move more people—not more cars—by providing fast and uninterrupted service to buses carrying up to 300,000 passengers daily.
In a statement, the DOTr believes that any move to open this lane to private vehicles, even under the guise of carpooling, will inevitably slow down bus operations and defeat the very purpose for which the busway was created.
“We appreciate the efforts of MMDA General Manager Nicolas Torre III to look for solutions to traffic congestion in the Metro, but the President’s directives are clear: government transport policy must be commuter-focused and pro–mass transit, not car-centric,” said DOTr Secretary Giovanni Lopez.
DOTr said that commuters are one with them that the EDSA Busway is an efficient program benefiting the wider public. This is enough reason that the EDSA should remain exclusively for buses and commuters.
The DOTr said it is always open for a dialogue with GM Torre, other agencies and civil society organizations to create more innovative, well-thought of and holistic solutions to traffic problems.
