Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 25) — The volume of vehicles passing through EDSA has not returned to pre-pandemic levels even after Metro Manila was placed under the lowest COVID-19 alert status, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said Friday.
“Noong pre-pandemic, ang volume natin dyan is, yung pinakamataas na nakuha namin is 405,000. Pero sa ngayon, hindi pa natin naabot yung 405 (405,000),” MMDA Director Neomie Recio noted in the Laging Handa briefing, citing recent MMDA data.
[Translation: Before the pandemic, the highest volume that we recorded was 405,000. We haven’t reached 405,000 so far.]
The volume went down further after fuel prices rose on March 10, the MMDA added.
“Actually from 396 (396,000), naging 372 (372,000). And kagabi lang, maghapon, it’s 377 (377,000). So, tingin ko, nagkaroon din ng effect yung mataas na presyo ng gas kaya hindi masyadong lumabas yung mga kababayan natin,” Recio said.
[Translation: From 396,000, it went down to 372,000. Just last night, the whole day, it was 377,000. So, I think our countrymen didn’t go out that much because of high fuel prices.]
The MMDA also said it has no plans yet to the expand the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program – or the number coding scheme – which is currently in effect only from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“Based on our data…based doon sa volume and travel time, travel speed na nakukuha ng traffic engineering center of MMDA, still manageable yung traffic, at hindi pa naman tayo dumarating dun sa pre-pandemic na sitwasyon natin,” Recio said.
[Translation: Based on our data…based on the volume, travel time, and travel speed gathered by the Traffic Engineering Center of MMDA, traffic is still manageable and we haven’t reached pre-pandemic levels.]
But the agency said it is ready to expand the scheme if the traffic situation worsens.
