MMDA designates 15 bus stops on EDSA

MANILA, Philippines — Passengers would no longer be allowed to wait for buses along the sidewalk of EDSA during the new normal, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced yesterday.

MMDA general manager Jojo Garcia said the agency would put up a single route for buses on the two inner lanes of EDSA along the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3) and Light Rail Transit-1 (LRT-1) stations. 

Passengers will have to enter the railway stations and go down to the stairways of the MRT-3 and LRT-1 to board the buses, Garcia said in an interview with The STAR.

Of the 15 designated bus stops, five will be stationed on the center island of five MRT-3 and two LRT-1 stations. The rest would be at the base of footbridges along EDSA.

“We will put barriers for the single bus lane. There will be 15 loading and unloading bus stops,” Garcia said.

Among the stations eyed as bus bays are located at the MRT North Avenue, Ortigas and Quezon Avenue stations as well as LRT Roosevelt and Balintawak stations.

Commuters will have to practice social distancing while lining up along the stairways and footbridges to board the bus, Garcia said. 

He said buses would use EDSA merely as a “connector” to other major throughfares in Metro Manila.

“It means passengers from Fairview would have to board three buses going to Alabang, for example,” Garcia said.

Under the single bus route, the number of buses traversing EDSA would be reduced from 2,500 before the pandemic to only 600 post-quarantine.