Take 5: Cubao to Makati in five minutes?

President Duterte says travel time between Cubao, Quezon City and Makati City will be cut to only five minutes by, “God willing,” December.

THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) pegged the distance between Aurora Boulevard in Cubao, Quezon City and Ayala Avenue in Makati City, via EDSA, at around 10 kilometers — close to the Google Maps estimate of 10.4 kilometers. Rounding off the distance to 10 kilometers, a simple computation shows a vehicle must travel at an average of 120km/h between the two points to cover the distance in five minutes.

The MMDA in April recommended a 60km/h speed limit on EDSA.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this month said travel time from Cubao to Makati will be reduced to just five minutes — which could possibly happen by December.

“You just wait. Ayaw ko mag-ano but things will improve. Maybe, God willing, December smooth sailing na. You don’t have to worry about traffic. Cubao and Makati is just about five minutes away,” a report published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on June 8 quoted the president as saying during an interview in Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s program, “Give Us This Day,” aired on the same day.

In a follow-up report published in the same paper on June 11, the MMDA’s EDSA Special Traffic and Transport Zone head Edison “Bong” Nebrija was quoted as announcing the formation of “Task Force CubMa,” in which the MMDA will be joined by the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group, Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and Interagency Council for Traffic in managing traffic flow and apprehending violators on the busiest highway in Metro Manila.

“CubMa” apparently refers to Cubao and Makati.

The Department of Public Works and Highways will implement “engineering interventions” to give way to repair works along EDSA on weekends, according to the report.

Nebrija was also quoted in the report as saying the MMDA must implement existing traffic policies, including the plan to ban provincial buses (and their terminals) on EDSA, as well as to change the point-to-point route of UV Express commuter vans.

The ban on provincial buses faces “at least three petitions” asking the Supreme Court to stop its implementation. The ban was approved in March by the Metro Manila Council, the policymaking arm of the MMDA composed of the 17 mayors in Metro Manila, the report said.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo was quoted in the same report as saying it was up to Congress to decide on the President’s request to be granted emergency powers to solve Metro Manila’s traffic jams. The request had been previously rejected.

Meanwhile, Nebrija in at least two TV interviews after the President’s announcement started pushing anew for the ban on vehicles with only one person on board — the driver — on EDSA during rush hours. In August last year the ban was suspended after a Senate resolution urged the agency to stop its full implementation.