April 29th, 2022
House Ways and Means Chair Joey Sarte Salceda (Albay, 2nd district) blasted the “finger pointing” between the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Land Transport Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) over which agency imposed the rule that provincial buses may only drop or take passengers from the North Luzon Express Terminal (NLET) or the Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange. Salceda also said that the supposed “window hours” between 10 pm and 5 am for provincial buses “is inequitable, unfair, ineffective, and just completely useless.”
“After imposing these policies, these two agencies are pointing fingers at each other about who really imposed the restrictions. They are also saying that these policies are not really hard restrictions. Ano ba talaga?” Salceda said.
Salceda adds that “if you have to roll back every pronouncement about these policies, maybe they just don’t make sense. So, just drop them.”
“Impose traffic rules on provincial buses. By all means. Restrict them to certain drop off points along EDSA. Sure. But heavily restrict their access to the main thoroughfare? We provincianos pay our taxes to maintain EDSA, too. Share the road!” Salceda added.
Salceda said that “it is outrageous that these guys still think that EDSA traffic is caused by commuters. A bus can carry at least fifty people at any given time. You need around 10 cars to do the same. And you think the problem is the bus?”
Salceda is also the petitioner against the provincial bus ban in the Supreme Court. The case was filed in May 2019.
“I demand three things, or Congress will subpoena these agencies to explain. First, just drop all these unclear restrictions on provincial buses in EDSA. Second, if they will issue guidelines, they should be jointly issued, so we don’t see a repeat of this awkward finger pointing. Third, all transport policies of the LTFRB and the MMDA should be properly consulted with commuter groups, and should have a clear, scientific case,” Salceda sought.
“Look at what they did to address a problem they themselves created. Now they’re ferrying passengers from PITX and NLET via city buses. So, you’re now working with more buses on the road than just letting the provincial buses take the passengers into the city. In terms of number of vehicles on the road, the policy was simply worse. This is insane policymaking,” Salceda added.
“I use policymaking loosely here. The policies aren’t even in black and white. These two agencies should shape up on transport. Stop throwing provincianos under the bus when the clear problem in EDSA is too many cars and not enough trains and buses.