Torre’s ‘carpool’ idea hits speed bump
The proposal “needs further study,” but several concerns are already being raised against it at the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
MMDA Chair Don Artes on Friday said “many issues have emerged” even before General Manager Nicolas Torre III, a former police general appointed to the civilian post in December, floated the idea of allowing carpooling on the Edsa Busway.
“Number one is implementation,” Artes said in a news conference. “How can you tell a high-occupancy vehicle if it’s tinted. What’s that? Will the driver be required to lower the vehicle windows? What if a house helper tags along? Or bodyguards. Will the vehicle be allowed [at the bus lane]?”
Not the first time
“Another issue, if I remember right, is that the LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) has reservations,” he said. “How do you distinguish ‘colorum’ (unauthorized) vehicles from carpooling vehicles? So this might encourage more colorum vehicles, which we all know are disadvantageous to commuters.”
Artes said buses should be prioritized on their designated Edsa lanes since they each can transport up to 50 passengers at a time.
“Again, [what Torre said] is just a suggestion that we should study [and] discuss. If it is not feasible, the bus lane will remain the exclusive use of the bus carousel,” he said.
Artes also noted that Torre was not the first to suggest carpooling on the busway, saying then MMDA General Manager Jose Arturo “Jojo” Garcia also suggested in 2018.
Malacañang itself affirmed the Department of Transportation’s stand, with Palace press officer Claire Castro saying that Torre’s “opinion or suggestion” was not that of the MMDA.
In a TV interview on Wednesday, Torre said the MMDA was considering carpooling to “allow high-occupancy vehicles” other than buses on the busway.
Defeats the purpose
The following day, the DOTr shot it down.
“(A)ny move to open this lane to private vehicles, even under the guise of carpooling, will inevitably slow down bus operations and defeat the very purpose for which the busway was created,” Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said in a statement.
“The busway was designed primarily to move more people—not more cars—by providing fast and uninterrupted service to buses carrying up to 300,000 passengers daily,“ he added.
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