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Rizal Avenue – Part 2: Tayuman to Pampanga Street
In the last post on Rizal Avenue, the featured photos show conditions under the LRT Line 1, which included visual evidence of certain issues like on-street parking, poor lighting and even sanitation (i.e., garbage) along the corridor. This post features more of the same and perhaps worse in some cases that are used as proof of the blight caused in part by the LRT superstructure. I say in part because LRT Line 1 is not wholly to blame for problems under and around it. Local governments and the private sector share responsibility for the decline of the areas within the direct influence of the rail line. Napabayaan. But of course, this does not absolve proponents of the LRT Line 1 for poor station design.
Approach to Tayuman Station along the northbound side of Rizal Avenue.
Tayuman Station – shown in the upper part of the photo is one end of the northbound platform.
Underneath the station, jeepneys clog the lanes as they load/unload passengers. LRT Line 1 stations are poorly designed for intermodal transfers (e.g., LRT to jeepney, LRT to bus, etc.).
Tayuman Road is a busy street in Manila that’s served by jeepneys connecting to major streets like Lacson Avenue to the east and Abad Santos and Juan Luna to the west. The photo shows a view to the east of the LRT Tayuman Station.
Approach to the junction with Herrera Street
Approach to Blumentritt Station – the station is named after Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Austrian who was a close friend of the national hero Jose Rizal. The street leads to a large public market close to the station (near the intersection) that is also named after the fellow and one of the more crowded markets in the metropolis. There are many jeepney lines with Blumentritt as part of their routes.
Birds and other creatures being sold as pets around Blumentritt – many have been painted to attract children and other buyers curious at the colored birds.
Vendors line the Rizal Avenue, Blumentritt and the other side streets in the area, which is usually crowded no matter what day of the week it is.
Angry birds? A closer look reveals the birds as chicken chicks colored by the vendors to attract interest. Sadly, many of these do not survive to become full grown chickens and children (and adults) will be disappointed to discover later that the color comes off pretty quick when the chicks come in contact with water.
There is a PNR Blumentritt Station and unless there’s been some radical clean-up of the area, this is pretty much what you’d see around the station – garbage, dirt, informal settlers and other characters. The building behind the station is a public school.
The PNR Blumentritt Station has two platforms on either side of the double track. Security is quite lax and people, including children, cross the tracks freely. Fortunately, train service frequencies are quite low (about 1 per hour) so the risk of getting hit by a train is also low. The photo shows the view to the east of Rizal Avenue.
On the left side of Rizal Avenue is a scene where people are oblivious to the railways with some even doing their cooking between the tracks.
Blumentritt Avenue is a very crowded street with a public school (building at right) just across the public market (at left). There are many vendors lined along the street and people as just about everywhere and without regard to vehicular traffic.
Traffic congestion along Rizal Avenue is attributed mainly to the market and median barriers were constructed to reduce pedestrian crossings anywhere along the road. Commercial establishments line either side of Rizal Avenue, basically contributing to congestion in the area.
Commercial establishments plus customers plus paratransit equal to traffic congestion
16A busy side street in the Blumentritt area – there are no sidewalks so pedestrians and motor vehicles mix it up along the road.
Bulacan Street serves as an informal terminal for jeepneys. The road appears to be newly paved but there are no sidewalks and tents are found along the road often bearing the names of politicians sponsoring the tents for various purposes such as wakes and parties.
Intersection with Pampanga Street, just before Rizal Avenue and the LRT line turns towards Aurora Boulevard and proceed to Caloocan City and Monumento.
More on Rizal Avenue in future post…
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Streets of Olongapo: Rizal Avenue
Olongapo City is located in the Province of Zambales, the only city in that province, and beside the Subic Freeport. It is a pioneer in public transport service innovations in the form of the first initiative on the color-coding of jeepneys according to their routes. Despite what seemed to be forever being linked to the Freeport in terms of economic development, the city has enjoyed continued growth and is currently experiencing more challenges attributed to this growth. Among these challenges are those pertaining to traffic congestion and public transport services for the city. A Transportation and Traffic Management Plan Study was conducted by UP Diliman through the National Center for Transportation Studies and is up for formal adoption of the city.
Following are photos taken along the city’s main street, Rizal Avenue, where many of the city’s transport and traffic problems are manifested.
Cyclist pedaling along Rizal Avenue beside a yellow jeepney taking passengers at the designated stop at curbside. Downstream are parked vehicles along the road.
More parked vehicles at either side of Rizal Avenue effectively reducing road capacity for the 4-lane street.
On-street parking is a problem for the city as there are few, if any, off-street parking facilities in the city. On-street parking turnover is quite low since many of the parked vehicles are not clients or customers but establishment owners or managers.
Most of Rizal Avenue is undivided but there are median barriers along the section in front of the public market to reduce jaywalking among pedestrians.
The section in front of city hall – just across are many commercial establishments and on-street parking.
Another view of the Rizal Avenue, this time along the westbound side, with the the market on the left side. The yellow jeepneys are quite conspicuous and remind me of the UP Ikot jeepneys.
A monument to the Ulo ng Apo, from which the name of the city is said to be derived from, is right in the middle of a rotunda at a major intersection along Rizal Avenue. Around the rotunda are commercial establishments and a major provincial bus terminal.
There are designated stops for jeepneys along the avenue but these are often crowded out by parked vehicles. As a result, jeepneys could not maneuver properly and end up unloading/loading passengers in the middle of the road.
On-street parking along curves tend to impede the flow of traffic. There are also issues where electric posts like the one shown in the photo have not been transferred, posing risks to vehicular traffic.
Another example of a designated jeepney stop along the avenue where parked vehicles constrict maneuvering space for jeepneys.
A monument to the volunteers of Olongapo during the Mt. Pinatubo episode after the closure of the U.S. Naval Base in what is now a Freeport. I wonder if the building under construction in the photo has enough parking spaces for the traffic it generates.
More jeepneys and more on-street parking – there is a perception that there are too many (oversupply) of jeepneys. Note though that most PUJs in Olongapo are not the bigger 20 to 24 seater jeepneys we see in Metro Manila but the older, 16 to 18 seaters like the ones shown in the photo.
Some on-street parking spaces are “reserved” by establishments. I didn’t mention that on-street parking is free of charge and such situation probably encourages longer parking durations. Perhaps the city should seriously consider parking fees to reduce long-term parking and ensure smoother flow of traffic along its streets. There are examples of these parking schemes in other cities including Makati City that Olongapo can adopt and adjust.
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Tandang Sora Avenue road widening
The stretch of Tandang Sora Avenue between Commonwealth Avenue (Luzon Avenue Flyover) and Capitol Hills Drive is currently being widened as part of the Luzon Avenue project. Work here has been delayed by not a few glitches including the issues regarding the right-of-way acquisition. This area used to be home to a lot of informal settlers, including many who have lived in the area for decades as they were tolerated by the land owners. Many had to be relocated and were compensated to give way to the section of Tandang Sora that connects to the also unfinished Luzon Avenue.
The following photos were from a month ago when work was still ongoing along the southbound side of the road. This southbound side is actually the old 2-lane, 2-way section of Tandang Sora that was rehabilitated following completion of work on the expansion northbound lanes.
Heavy equipment are everywhere along the section like the roller (pison) on the right side of the photo working on base layer of the pavement. The concrete barriers are used to prevent vehicles from entering the work zone.
Both northbound and southbound traffic were using the northbound side of the road. The median island separating NB and SB sides of the the road is shown in the photo. The building on the right is actually a condemned structure.
Concrete pavement has been laid out along the SB lanes but was still undergoing curing.
Approach to the intersection with Capitol Hills Drive
Yesterday, I was able to take a few photos of the same section and found that the rehabilitated southbound lanes were already usable to traffic.
Tandang Sora junction with Luzon Avenue
Newly opened southbound lanes – 3 lanes are of PCCP but there are still construction work ongoing including drainage and sidewalk construction.
Sidewalk and median barriers are in various stages of construction along the section. I think they built barriers to anticipate problems regarding jaywalking.
Approach to the intersection with Capitol Hill Drive – one problem that needs to be solved along Tandang Sora is roadside parking. Informal settlers who own vehicles park these along the road. There are also stores, eateries and vehicle repair shops along the section that occupy sidewalks and encourage parking by customers.
Once the section is completed and with the future completion of Luzon Avenue, it is expected that traffic will increase along this section. The improved capacity of the road is also expected to ease traffic along the Capitol Hills Driver-Zuzuaregi Street route, which has become congested due to vehicles traveling between Commonwealth and C-5 whose drivers want to bypass the usually constricted Tandang Sora section.
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Daily penance: traffic congestion along C-5
People have been telling me about the traffic congestion along Circumferential Road 5 (C-5) and I am quick to reply that I know the feeling as I’m one of those who have driven or traveled along C-5 and experienced first hand the traffic congestion, which is worst during the mornings (southbound) and late afternoons and evenings (northbound). Midday traffic jams are not uncommon as C-5 is a truck route and large vehicles contribute to clogging especially at bottlenecks like the U-turns slots along the highway and bridge crossing the Pasig River. C-5 has been this way since its opening (or more appropriately the completion of missing links along the main alignment).
It will not get better. It will only get worse. I say so because of the annual increase in vehicle ownership, including motorcycles, in what is now termed as Mega Manila. I dare say so because of the backlog of public transport infrastructure in the metropolis (or megalopolis?). It is well established that efficient public transport infra and services are good incentives for people to commute rather than drive. This means there will be less vehicles on the road and therefore there will be less congestion as basically only those who really need to drive would be using their cars on a regular basis. Of course, it is not as easy at it seems considering trip making and mode choices are in reality complicated matters. But then the availability of viable, acceptable choices for travel, especially in the urban setting allows for people to have better mobility and more equitable use of the transport system than a car-oriented city. Until then, when we do have the public transport system that our cities require, it will be a daily penitensya for many of us traveling and not just along C-5.
Congestion along the southbound side of C-5 approaching the flyover crossing Ortigas Ave. The flyover can be seen in the horizon.
Congestion along C-5 southbound in the Bo. Ugong area approaching the junction with Lanuza Avenue. An overpass was proposed for construction along this section but now it doesn’t look like it will do any good considering the bottleneck is the Pasig Flyover and the bridge across Pasig River.
Congestion along C-5 southbound at the Pasig flyover. The flyover has 2 lanes per direction and vehicle breakdowns or road crashes have resulted in terrible traffic jams.
Congestion along C-5 northbound at the C-5/Kalayaan junction. The north U-turn flyover, one of two in the area, is shown in the photo. An underpass was initially proposed, designed and approved (with budget from a JBIC loan) at the junction. A previous MMDA Chair, however, didn’t agree and successfully maneuvered for the twin U-turn flyovers to be constructed instead.
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Rizal Avenue – Part 1: Carriedo – Bambang
Rizal Avenue stretches from Manila northward to Caloocan city from Carriedo to Monumento. What used to be one of the more cosmopolitan streets in Manila was transformed (some say blighted) by the construction of the elevated LRT Line in the early 1980’s. Carriedo, for example, used to be a popular shopping street along with Escolta. Those were times when there were none of the huge shopping malls now scattered in Metro Manila and people came to Manila to shop.
The following photos were taken while we traversed Rizal Avenue as part of a recon we were conducting for a project with the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) back in 2011. I’m not sure if there have been any significant changes along Rizal Avenue and I am not aware of any recent programs to improve conditions under the LRT Line 1.
Approaching the LRT Line 1 Carriedo Station from the McArthur Bridge
Under Carriedo Station, one experiences first-hand what people have been saying about the area being blighted by the LRT 1 structure
Poorly lighted? It was broad daylight outdoors when we conducted the recon but underneath an LRT 1 Station it can get quite dark. Of course, aside from the need to improve illumination, perhaps authorities can also improve the environment including the cleanliness of the area under the station. A common complaint is garbage and there are those saying the area smells of piss (i.e., mapanghi).
Past Carriedo Station, it was brighter and perhaps the area can be developed so that stretches can be pedestrian friendly. Maybe there should also be restrictions on vehicle parking, which tends to make the area look congested. It would be good to have a strategically located multilevel facility in the area where most vehicles can park instead of along the streets as shown in the photo.
5More roadside parking plus the presence of tricycles contribute to traffic congestion in the area. People are everywhere walking and crossing anywhere. The arcades where they are supposed to walk along are mainly occupied by vendors or merchandise of stores/shops occupying the ground floors of the buildings along the street.
Each side of Rizal Avenue is surprisingly wide with 3 lanes per direction. One lane is effectively used for on-street parking while the other two are for general traffic. There are no lane markings at the time we passed by the area so there can be confusion as to lane assignments.
Approach to the junction with Recto Ave. and the LRT Line 2, which is also elevated and at the 3rd level as shown in the photo.
Rizal Ave.-Recto Ave. intersection – visible downstream in the photo is Doroteo Jose Station
Provincial bus terminal between Doroteo Jose and Bambang Stations
The Sta. Cruz district and particularly the Bambang area is well-known for shops selling medical equipment and supplies. Medical, nursing and other students of allied medical professions as well as professionals come to Bambang to purchase equipment and supplies from these shops, which offer items at lower prices.
LRT 1 Bambang Station
Rizal Ave.-Bambang St. intersection beneath the station
Two large government hospitals are located in the area between Bambang Station and Tayuman Station – San Lazaro Hospital and Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center. Both are run by the Department of Health (DOH), which is located beside Jose Reyes.
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Highway 2000 and Barkadahan Bridge
There is an alternate route from the towns of Rizal Province to Taguig and Makati. The route will allow people to avoid the congested Ortigas Avenue, C-5 and EDSA, which is the typical route between the Makati CBD and Bonifacio Global City and the Rizal Province towns along Ortigas Avenue Extension and the Manila East Road including Cainta, Taytay, Antipolo, Angono and Binangonan. The alternate route utilizes a road that was constructed as part of a network of roads intended to encourage development in idle lands in Taytay that came out of the reclamation that was part of the Manggahan Floodway project.
One-way section beside the Taytay Public Market
Parts of the market were under renovation
Past the market, Highway 2000 becomes a 2-way road. There are no lane markings and the pavement shown in the photo indicates a poorly maintained road.
Along the road are subdivisions, a few commercial establishments, a columbarium under construction, informal settlers and much open space.
Junction with the Manggahan East Bank Road and approach to the Barkadahan Bridge
Crossing the East Bank Road to the 2-lane Barkadahan Bridge, you can immediately notice the narrow sidewalks along each side of the bridge. I think they should have designed this to be wider considering the significant number of people crossing the bridge on foot.
One can have a good view of the southernmost end of the Manggahan Floodway from the bridge.
The view shows a lot of informal settlers along both the west and east banks of the floodway and a lot of water lily and kangkong on the waters, which lead to the Laguna de Bay.
Shanties along the west bank of the floodway. The tall buildings in the horizon and downstream from the bridge are located in Quezon City’s Eastwood along Circumferential Road 5. Behind Eastwood is the Marikina River, which connects to the Manggahan Floodway via the Rosario Weir.
The other end of the Barkadahan Bridge is a junction with the Manggahan West Bank Road and a generally residential area that is still part of Taytay, Rizal.
The same route can also be used by those residing in Pasig and Marikina cities to the east of the Manggahan Floodway as there is a direct connection to Highway 2000 and the Barkadahan Bridge via the East Bank Road of the Floodway.
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A. Bonifacio Avenue in Marikina
The main road leading to Marikina City from Quezon City is one that branches from Aurora Boulevard. A. Bonifacio Avenue is one of two roads diverging from Aurora, the other one being Marcos Highway. The avenue eventually becomes Sumulong Highway at its junction with Angel Tuazon Ave. (Gil Fernando Ave.) at the Blue Wave mall.
View from the overpass from Aurora Blvd to A. Bonifacio Ave. – in the horizon are the Sierra Madre mountains and closer to the flyover is of course a view of the Marikina Valley.
A. Bonifacio is a 4-lane, 2-way undivided road
Section at the exit from Riverbanks
A. Bonifacio Ave. is the main access road to Loyola Memorial Park and so it gets quite congested during the Undas period (All Saints and All Souls Days). The road and adjacent land is flood prone and along the road is the main gate to Provident Village, which was one of the most devastated private subdivisions during Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) in 2009 and the heavy rains of Habagat (southwest monsoon) in 2012.
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Quiapo, Manila
The Quiapo district of Manila is one of the oldest CBDs in the metropolis and is a major end point for public transport similar to Cubao and Divisoria. Quiapo is best known for its church, which is dedicated to the Black Nazarene, and one of the most visited by pilgrims in the Philippines along with Baclaran (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) and Antipolo (Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage). Fridays are usually the most congested days in the area as it is the day designated for services for the Black Nazarene (Note: Wednesdays are for Baclaran.).
Underpass along Quezon Boulevard – the Far Eastern University is at the left while the bridge downstream is the elevated LRT Line 2 that is directly above Claro M. Recto Avenue. At right are commercial and residential buildings surrounding the Manila City Jail. The building at the right behind the LRT 2 is the Isetann mall.
Grade separation – the Quezon Blvd. underpass running beneath LRT Line 2 and Claro M. Recto Ave. has 3 lanes per direction.
The Intramuros-bound direction of Quezon Blvd. has five (5) lanes but these are confused due to the lack of lane markings. Effectively, there are only 4 lanes due to road-side parking and pedestrian activity. While many old buildings are designed in the arcade style where pedestrians are supposed to have right-of-way, these are usually occupied by merchandize, signs and other obstacles to pedestrian flow. As such, pedestrians walk along the carriageway as seen in the photo.
One of the side streets in Quiapo is Raon, popular for electronics and camera shops. People came and continue to come here for good deals on music players, karaoke machines, speakers, digital cameras and other electronic goods. However, one has to be attentive or alert as there are supposedly many snatchers and pickpockets in the area.
The Quiapo Church is a shrine dedicated to the Black Nazarene. The Feast Day every January attracts hundreds of thousands of people in a procession that now starts from the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park and ends at the church.
The giant screen usually shows ads by the sponsor, a major drugstore chain, and popular television shows. The screen is quite bright at night and you can see many people gathering around for when it features primetime TV shows.
Plaza Miranda in front of Quiapo Church has been the site of many events including the infamous bombing of a political gathering in 1972 that led to the imposition of Martial Law in September of that year. Common around the plaza are vendors peddling herbal medicines, religious items, and even religious services like praying for the client in exchange for a small fee. There are also fortune tellers and other characters.
Past the Quiapo church is the ramp towards the Quezon Bridge. Underneath and faintly visible in the photo is an underpass along which is Carlos Palanca Street that leads to Rizal Avenue in the northwest and P. Casal in the southeast. There are many shops along this road where the Quinta Market is also located at the corner of Quezon Blvd. and Palanca Street. Among these shops are those selling handicrafts and the notorious ones selling bootleg DVD movies.
Approach to Quezon Bridge, one of the oldest bridges in Manila spanning the Pasig River. It’s steel truss design has been an example used in many civil engineering and architecture classes.
A closer look at Quezon Bridge.
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Streets of Intramuros: Calle Real del Palacio
I haven’t had a good chance to take photos of the streets in Intramuros, Manila. The historic streets within what was for hundreds of years regarded as Manila deserves a more detailed treatment. Recently, I have been able to go around a little bit thanks to meetings at the DPWH and a lecture at the Mapua Institute of Technology. I took full advantage of the opportunity to take photos along some streets along the way to my meetings and am posting these in a few articles about what I think should be a good example for heritage conservation including the street names and old structures within the walled city.
The original name of Andres Soriano Jr. Avenue, the main road stretching from Plaza Mexico along the Pasig River to A. Bonifacio Drive in the Port Area, was Calle Real del Palacio. I believe they should have stuck with the original name in order to preserve this piece of history. Our politicians have a penchant for renaming streets after their kin, heroes, or for purposes like claiming that we should exorcise names associated with our colonial past. While the latter seems to be a basis for changing names elsewhere (not just in the Philippines), perhaps the remedy here is to still retain the original name under the new one.
Ruins of the aduana or customs building, visible upon turning from the Muelle Del Rio at Plaza Mexico towards Andres Soriano Jr. Ave.
The road is a four lane, two-way street. It is usually congested because of public transport loading and unloading operations (usually in the middle of the street) and roadside parking, which is tolerated. In fact, there are parking aides in charge of collecting fees from drivers parking along the streets. Intramuros is host to a lot of offices, commercial establishments and schools – all major traffic generators that attract so many vehicles thereby requiring a lot of parking space. The building to the left is the reconstructed building where the old ayuntamiento used to stand.
The new building where the ayuntamiento was is now supposed to be the new offices of the Bureau of Treasury.
The open space at left is the along which are many parked cars is the Plaza Roma, which is in front of the Manila Cathedral. The building right after the plaza is where the Palacio del Gobernador used to be. It is now the offices of the Bureau of Treasury.
Cabildo Street, one of the side streets from across the Plaza Roma, which ultimately leads to Fort Santiago.
6Another look at the building where the old Governor’s Palace used to be. Visible downstream along the Soriano Ave. is the gate leading to the Simeon de Anda monument located at a roundabout along A. Bonifacio Drive.
At right is Gen. Antonio Luna Street, which is another main road that has one end at Puerto Real, the southernmost gate of the Intramuros and the other at Fort Santiago. Curiously, this road was also called Calle Real del Palacio as it passed in front of the Palacio del Gobernador.
A view along Gen. Antonio Luna Street towards Fort Santiago, which is a one-way street.
Western entrance to Intramuros along Soriano Ave. leads to Bonifacio Drive and the Port Area.
Arzobispo Street, which also leads to Fort Santiago but also passes along the Archbishop’s Palace, the office of the Archdiocese of Manila and with its southernmost end at San Agustin Church.
The Simeon de Anda monument at the Anda Circle along Bonifacio Drive.
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Another revolution needed along EDSA?
One of the most powerful images of EDSA that sticks to anyone’s mind is one where you see hundreds of thousands of people occupying the sections near what is now a shrine dedicated to the People Power Revolution that led to the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. Perhaps a more recent version of this image is another associated with a People Power 2 that ended the term of another Philippine President, Erap Estrada, in 2001. The latter had in the background the newly operational MRT-3 as well as the overpasses at the intersection of EDSA-Ortigas that were built after 1986. These images are now mostly replaced by those depicting EDSA as one huge parking lot for cars during peak periods that seem to stretch beyond the typical morning and afternoon hours. A couple of photos are reproduced below showing day time and night time traffic congestion along the stretch of EDSA from Ortigas to Camp Aguinaldo.
Afternoon congestion along the section of EDSA between Ortigas and Santolan. Note that even the overpasses are full of vehicles. Camp Aguinaldo is the green area on the top right.
Traffic congestion along the same section of EDSA at night. The head and tail lights represent the motor vehicles crawling along the highway.
Already the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has tried so many schemes along EDSA but mostly to regulate bus traffic. These have included various versions of dispatching schemes including a failed foray into the use of RFIDs. The current system that was launched in January is another attempt that we hope to be more successful than the previous ones. Already, the system has been able to weed out drivers with multiple traffic violations. There are many more of these drivers behind the wheels of public transport vehicles who probably shouldn’t be driving such vehicles as they put their passengers at risk of being involved in road crashes. Incidentally, such traffic violations associated with the different private bus companies operating in Metro Manila have been the subject of an interesting discussion during one congressional inquiry on public transport franchises where the MMDA reported hundreds if not thousands of traffic violations attributed to various bus companies.
The MMDA is limited by its mandate in so far as buses are concerned. It is the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), which has the responsibility to address franchise violations and enforce rules in such a way that the agency could influence bus companies to improve their services. However, the MMDA is not at all helpless here as they are in the best position to petition for sanctions against erring bus companies based on their data on traffic violations. Such obviously constitute a violation in the franchise particularly where reckless or irresponsible driving exposes their passengers and the general public to risks in the form of road crashes. Such crashes can translate into losses of lives, injuries or significant damages to property.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has proposed an elevated highway on top of EDSA. This is supposed to have been inspired by similar elevated expressways found in other principal metropolitan areas including those in Tokyo. Would it solve the problem of traffic along EDSA? Probably in the short run after its opening but likely not in the long run as the elevated highway will rapidly become congested much like the experience with C-5. An elevated highway will also require ramps at many of EDSA’s intersections with other major highways and congested on the ground will lead to the condition spreading to the elevated sections.
The planned rehabilitation of EDSA is overdue. However, it has met a lot of opposition and mixed signals from various sectors including the MMDA itself, which is supposed to work with the DPWH in finding a solution for Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfare. It seems that the MMDA is perhaps more interested in pursuing another elevated highway project, the Skybridge, which would be along a corridor on top of the San Juan River. Curiously, the objective of this other proposal is to have another alternate route to EDSA or simply “to decongest EDSA.” While well meaning, I have the gut feeling it won’t have a tremendous impact as it will still cater mainly to private cars. How about the commuters who comprise 70 to 80 percent of travelers along EDSA but only have about 30 percent of the road? We have to realize that only by keeping people, who do not need to drive, on public transport can we effectively decongest our roads. It is when they start using cars or motorcycles that our road space become all the more limited.
Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), the agency which is supposed to come up with the solutions to our transport problems has not been as active as it should be on the topic of EDSA. To be fair, the agency seems to be working on the acquisition of additional coaches to address the also overdue capacity expansion for the MRT Line 3. However, it also seems that now worries that the line was poorly planned in the sense that it failed to anticipate the present transport demand, has been validated. MRT Line 3 is really a light rail transit line that was built along EDSA despite the need for a higher capacity system. But is it too late to upgrade this system? Or do we need another to supplement or complement the MRT 3?
Perhaps what is needed along EDSA is another revolution but one of the sustainable transport kind. “Sobra na! Tama na! Palitan na!” were cries in 1986 that are now very much applicable to the transport system we have along EDSA. It will not be an easy nor an inexpensive task to upgrade the MRT-3 into a higher capacity system required along this corridor. But opportunities are now available to ease the burden along the line. The emergence of bus rapid transit (BRT) as a viable option along EDSA would have to be explored. But a BRT cannot be simply installed along the corridor. The government would also have to be firm with the conventional buses plying routes that all seem to be overlapping along EDSA. These routes would have to be simplified along with the numerous companies that would have to be encouraged to form consortia (or cooperatives?) that can participate in a MRT-BRT-bus integrated network. The question now is who will champion or lead such a revolution for transport? Who will be progressive enough to lead us into an era of modern transport that should be inclusive, environment-friendly, and promotes “dignity of travel” for all?
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Caught (up) in traffic 
