MMDA to test intelligent utility system for EDSA buses

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will soon test a system, invented by a Filipino, that monitors the movement of public utility buses as they travel along EDSA and the other major roads of the metropolis.

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said Friday his agency would be presenting to Metro bus operators the Intelligent Bus Utility System or the iBus system, invented by Elma Arboleras, which won the British Invention Award for 2011 in London under the “Outstanding Contribution and Application of Innovation for the Public Transport System” category.

Arboleras presented the concept to Tolentino in a meeting at the MMDA office in Makati on Thursday. “There are existing digital tag service providers, but the beauty of the iBus system is that it is 100 percent Filipino,” Tolentino said.

Tolentino said the MMDA would test the iBus system in a designated area large enough to accommodate 10 buses.

According to the MMDA, the iBus system could provide the solution to the endemic problems of Metro Manila’s bus transportation system, such as loading and unloading or overstaying at unauthorized stops, straddling two lanes at major arteries and speeding.

The iBus system makes use of machine-readable tags that digitally identifies a bus and then includes it in a database where computers then monitor its daily operation. According to the MMDA, the iBus system can detect whether buses are properly positioned at designated stops. Should a bus stop at an undesignated spot, the system will not allow the bus doors to open.

In emergencies, the doors can be opened by overriding the system. However, the MMDA said, the emergency should be verified first by the MMDA-Metrobase.