Lawmaker: Let EVs use Edsa busway
A lawmaker has broached the idea of allowing electric vehicles (EVs) to use the dedicated bus lane along Edsa as an incentive promoting green transport and a way to decongest Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfare.
In a hearing held on Wednesday by the House committee on Metro Manila development, Bataan Rep. Albert Garcia said the government could consider allowing e-vehicles to use the busway, which is currently an exclusive lane for the Edsa Bus Carousel, to help alleviate traffic while encouraging car users to shift to EVs.
“I strongly believe that we could see improvement with this solution,” Garcia said. “It could finally be the solution of our big problem of P3.5 billion in losses every day that would escalate to P6 billion a day by 2030.”
Garcia is referring to two separate Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) studies that showed that the Philippines had been losing P3.5 billion a day due to the traffic problem, an amount that could balloon to P6 billion a day in six years if left unchecked.
Allowing EVs to use the busway, he said, could help maximize the lane’s “carrying capacity” or the number of passengers that could pass through the lane in a day.
Based on current monitoring, about 550 bus trips with a total capacity of 454,000 passengers pass through the busway daily.
Copying Norway
Garcia’s proposal takes a leaf from Norway’s transport policies, which allow EVs to drive in the bus lane, grant them free parking and charging, and exempt them from road and tunnel tolls.
These policies, the Bataan lawmaker said, helped Norway become the world’s top adopter of EVs, with two-thirds of the cars in the Scandinavian country now electric.
His proposal could lead to other environment-friendly measures or projects, Garcia said, such as getting the Department of Energy (DOE) to set up solar charging ports for EVs and encouraging bus operators to switch to EVs for their fleets.
The DOE came up with a similar proposal in 2022 as part of efforts to promote EVs. Part of the plan was to issue “green plates” for EVs for easier monitoring, according to Energy Undersecretary Felix Fuentebella,
MAP supportive
Previous suggestions to let more types of vehicles use the busway have been met with resistance especially from commuter groups, who argue that such dedicated lanes should adhere to globally accepted standards to maintain efficiency.
But during Wednesday’s House hearing, the head of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP)—one of the major business groups supporting the continued operation of the Edsa busway—said Garcia’s proposal jibed with MAP’s position on EV promotion.
“We always say that there is no need to reinvent the wheel as the solutions are already existing,” said MAP president Edward Yap. “But this proposal, we support it because we also support the use of EVs.”
