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EDSA Express Bus Will Connect Commuters To LRT, MRT

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EDSA Express Bus Will Connect Commuters To LRT, MRT

“Bakit ka late?”

“Traffic sa EDSA eh.”

We often hear this exchange of question and excuse among our friends and even us are using it ourselves. Everyone at most might have experienced the weighty traffic in this part of the metro that even during the celebration of EDSA Revolution, memes criticizing the street rose among the supposed-to-be heroic commemoration of that fateful day.

Nonetheless, this problem will soon be ebbed, hopefully. As the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced the soon-to-launched EDSA express bus service that will run along the highway.

After commuters and lawmakers rant about the recurrent hitches and breakdowns pestering MRT, this new bus system came to scheme.

The project dubbed as ‘Express Connect’ aims to provide commuters faster travel time, more comfortable trip and it also aims toward a seamless transportation system. These goals were discusse during a meeting of the House committee on transportation on March 4.

“The approved brand name of this project is Express Connect… It will connect [passengers] to the rails, the LRT and MRT, to provide passengers a seamless, convenient mode of transport,” LTFRB Chairman Winston Ginez said.

The Express Connect that will have its pilot run on March 16, aims to carry commuters faster along EDSA, making only one stop or two from starting point to destination. This is through cutting down travel time for commuters passing through the main thoroughfare EDSA, and helping passengers easily transfer to the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines.

Just last weekend, MRT-3 had closed early on a Saturday and opened late on a Sunday to make way for rail replacements. It affected loads of commuters at around 600, 000 who use the train system everyday.

For the launch on March 16, the express bus service will run from Fairview in Quezon City to the Ayala central business district (CBD) in Makati City; and from Fairview to the Mall of Asia in Pasay City. Buses will make only one stop or two during the trips.

The bus service will use these 3 routes:

  • Fairview – Commonwealth – Ortigas, Pasig City – Ayala CBD
  • Fairview – Commonwealth – Ayala CBD
  • Fairview – Commonwealth – Ayala MRT – Mall of Asia

But Ginez said that this is just for the initial run, because there will be about 10 express routes that will be deploye after.

The buses will be GPS-equipped and WiFi-capable and will be allowe to use underpasses along EDSA, and will be exempte from the MMDA’s number coding scheme.

However, the LTFRB is still coordinating with Makati City for exemption from the city’s coding scheme.

The LTFRB, however, is still coordinating with Makati City for exemption from the city’s coding scheme.

A time and motion study that was conducte by LTFRB last Friday during rush hour show that commuters travelling from Fairview to Ayala can expect to get to their destinations 30 minutes earlier.

The new buses are anticipate to run 24/7 including weekends and holidays. And good thing, commuters can also expect to pay no more than the usual fare currently being charge for rides on air-conditioned buses, said Ginez.

Ginez is hoping that with the launch of the service later this month, 20% of the entire bus fleet in Metro Manila – about 1000 vehicles – will converted into express buses by 2016.

(Source)

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