Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime Bautista clarified that the government has no plans to remove the EDSA bus lane as previous reports claim. Instead, it will rather hand over the operations of the EDSA busway to the private sector ‘further improve commuter experience’.
DOTr – EDSA Bus Lane
Bautista clarified the statement made by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Romando Artes regarding the removal of the EDSA bus lane after the capacity of the MRT 3 is improved. Moreover, he shared that there are plans to privatize the bus lane to improve it.
“Yes, hindi tatanggalin ang EDSA Busway. Nagkaroon lang ng discussion diyan pero hindi siya tatanggalin,” Bautista said.
The DOTr secretary added that the EDSA Carousel lane doesn’t quite overlap with the MRT 3 as the bus lane serves commuters from Caloocan up to the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) in Parañaque City. Whereas, the MRT 3 only serves from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City.
The busway also shuttles point-to-point (P2P) buses and airport express buses to help alleviate the traffic.
Bautista said that based on the feasibility study for the EDSA Busway privatization will be completed in a few months.
“Yung feasibility study matatapos natin within the next few months. We’re expecting that we will be able to award the O&M (operations and management) of the EDSA Busway by the end of 2026,” he said.
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