Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 16) — A former chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) opposed plans to construct bicycle lanes along EDSA, noting that its implementation would only bring back a traffic-clogged highway amid the general community quarantine in Metro Manila.
“Ang dami nating roads, bakit sa EDSA natin pinagpipilitan? (We have a lot of roads, why are we forcing the implementation along EDSA?) Let’s improve on public transport, focus on it,” Marikina Rep. Bayani Fernando told lawmakers during the House hearing of the Committee on Metro Manila Development on the public transportation status of Metro Manila on Tuesday.
Citing his term as former Marikina mayor, Fernando said he was disappointed in putting up “the most expensive bicycle lanes” within the city, only to have very few cyclists using them.
“Bicycle lanes, they’re free to use any road, but not our congested roads,” he said.
Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice added that bicycles cannot be an alternative to the public transportation system of the country’s capital.
“Kailangan may ready na mass transport everyday…Kung pipilitin ho nating pigilan yung dami ng public transport, may mga bibili ng motorsiklo, mas dadami ang mga sasakyan,” Erice said. “Ang kailangan natin sapat na bilang ng public transpo para sa manggagawa.”
[Translation: We should have a ready mass transport everyday…if we would contonue to limit public transport, more people will buy motorcycles, there will be more vehicles on the road. What we need is a sufficient number of public transportation for our workers.]
PH losing ₱1 billion from workers amid transport crisis
Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo said the country is losing at least ₱1 billion every day from the lost wages of workers who fail to get to their workplaces while the country is under the general community quarantine.
“We can exceed over ₱1 billion on a daily basis in terms of economic cost because we fail to ferry our workers to their workplaces,” she said.
In President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest report to Congress, he said that the government has formed a technical working group to construct bike lanes along EDSA and six other major thoroughfares in Metro Manila.
Transportation officials earlier bared that they are now fast-tracking the establishment of the protected bike lanes as more people shift to bicycles as mode of transportation during the coronavirus crisis.
For transportation adviser Robert Siy of the MoveAsOne Coalition, implementing bicycle lanes would be the best solution to the transport crisis in Metro Manila.
“All of us who work in the public service should think of the welfare of those who do not have private vehicles,” he told lawmakers.
“This is the best time to abandon our past practices which are no longer appropriate. I’d like to point out that we have to prioritize the welfare of the vast majority — those who do not use cars,” he said.
