LTFRB to field articulated buses on EDSA

The quest to relieve traffic and move more people efficiently within Metro Manila continues. In another experimental run, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will operate articulated buses that will run from Quezon City to Pasay City. The articulated buses will be another option aside from the MRT, which recently added an “express” train that runs only to selected stations.

The dry run will help determine if the elongated vehicles can be efficiently operated along EDSA, the country’s busiest “highway.” The articulated buses are manufactured by MAN. They are comprised of two rigid passenger sections with a pivoting joint, allowing greater capacity without sacrificing maneuverability. MAN previously displayed the technology at the Manila International Auto Show.

In an interview, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chair Winston Ginez explained that if the vehicle is found to be safe and viable for the kind of traffic on EDSA, the government would entertain proposals from the private sector to operate an articulated bus service.

Ginez said, “Through the articulated bus, we can have a temporary solution to the overcrowding at the MRT stations while we’re waiting for the arrival of the new trains.”

The dry run was set to run Wednesday morning exclusively for MRT’s southbound passengers. The bus will pick up passengers starting at the North Edsa station, make stops at Buendia, Ayala and Taft stations, turn at SM Mall of Asia rotunda, and end the trip near Naia Terminal 2.

Also starting Wednesday is the MRT’s express train service, wherein trains will skip some stations to take passengers directly between Quezon City and Makati City and Pasay City during peak hours.

Like the express service, the articulated bus is being explored as a way to ease congestion on the railway line that serves over half a million passengers daily, well above MRT’s designed capacity of 350,000 riders per day.

New trains procured from China’s Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co. won’t arrive until 2015, transport officials earlier said.
With report by Miguel R. Camus