Organized bus route on Edsa starts this week

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said yesterday that the Organized EDSA Bus Route (ORB) or the single dispatching system would be implemented anew tomorrow.

MMDA Traffic Operations Center (TOC) Executive Director Angelito Vergel de Dios said all systems are already in place for the ORB, except that the Navotas terminal has yet to be completed.

But the terminals in Baclaran, Paranaque City; Fairview, Quezon City; FTI in Alabang, Muntinlupa City; and Malanday, Valenzuela City are all ready for the ORB, he said. Dispatchers’ booths and bus timers are also installed at different points in EDSA.

The dispatchers, provided by the MMDA, would determine how many PUBs would have to be dispatched to EDSA. The timers, on the other hand, would determine how long a public utility bus (PUB) can load passengers. But Vergel de Dios said the timers would still have to be synchronized depending on the average number of passengers in a certain area.

The whole day today will be spent on going over details of the system to make sure that the ORB would be implemented smoothly, this time, Vergel de Dios said.

The ORB was first implemented last August but did not even last a day after confusion among the bus drivers prompted the MMDA to suspend it.

The MMDA said the ORB will help lessen the traffic on EDSA because PUBs will be dispatched from the terminals to the highway according to the volume of waiting passengers.

Motorists have complained that PUBs are turning EDSA into their terminals affecting the flow of traffic as they waited for passengers. The MMDA also noted that many PUBs have been plying EDSA nearly empty.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando had said that the ORB would guarantee passengers for PUBs, thus giving them higher daily earnings.

The MMDA also required PUB drivers to undergo a half-day seminar on road rules before they can be allowed to ply EDSA once the ORB is implemented.