MAP backs planned bus rapid transit system

MANILA, Philippines – The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) has expressed support for the planned bus rapid transit (BRT) system. 

Eduardo Yap, chairman of MAP’s traffic, transportation and infrastructure committee, urged the government to immediately implement the project, which will connect Manila City Hall to the Quezon Memorial Circle. A special lane for buses will be allotted on the 12.3-kilometer stretch.

“The project specifications must require the BRT to be a green transportation system utilizing clean energy to help reduce the high air pollution level in Metro Manila,” said Yap. 

“It is best that the buses to be employed in the system be of the low floor commuter type to be user friendly for quick and safer boarding and disembarking,” he added. 

Yap said efficient and affordable mass transit is the solution to the transportation needs of the metropolis and will help address its serious traffic problem. 

The P4.78-billion project will be funded through a loan from the World Bank and the French government. It was among the big-ticket infrastructure projects approved during the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board meeting in Malacañang on Wednesday.

The second line of BRT, which will run along EDSA, has yet to be approved by NEDA.