HPG: Edsa travel time cut by almost an hour

FIRST the good news: Travel time on Edsa has been reduced by almost an hour since the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) of the Philippine National Police took charge of directing traffic on the major highway.

The bad news, however, is that it still takes an least an hour to traverse the entire length of one of Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfares.

Or so claims the HPG after it conducted a weeklong “travel time survey” one month after its deployment to Edsa.

In a press briefing at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, on Monday, HPG directorial staff chief Senior Supt. Fortunato Guerrero said that between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. from Oct. 5 to Oct. 11, it took southbound buses between an hour and 21 minutes to an hour and 55 minutes to get from Balintawak in Quezon City to Taft in Pasay City.

On the other hand, northbound travel time on the same stretch during the evening rush hour took from one hour and 14 minutes to an hour and 25 minutes, Guerrero told reporters.

Traffic is heaviest on the southbound lane of Edsa in the morning and on the northbound lane in the afternoon, he said.

“Before the HPG took over, [Edsa travel time] used to be two hours and 30 minutes or longer,” Guerrero pointed out, adding that this has been reduced by around an hour.

According to him, undisciplined drivers were no longer the HPG’s primary problem on Edsa as it continued to apprehend traffic violators.

In the past five months, around 300 drivers have been cited for violating traffic regulations.

Instead, the major problem on Edsa has become “the number of stalled vehicles and traffic accidents occurring daily especially during rush hour,” Guerrero said.

Earlier, HPG director Chief Supt. Arnold Gunnacao said that around 30 accidents happen daily on Edsa since the HPG was able to clear choke points on the major thoroughfare last month.

Guerrero cited “engineering” problems as one of the major causes of traffic buildup such as the absence of traffic lights at certain intersections or traffic lights that needed more “calibrated” timing, and U-turn slot placements that required adjustments.

“We are studying [how to address these] and [we will be] making recommendations,” he said. -Jaymee T. Gamil