The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is conducting a two-day motorcycle consultation workshop to come up with an action plan to improve traffic management along major thoroughfares in the metropolis.
The meeting, which started Wednesday, also eyed the establishment of motorcycle lanes, specifically on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.
MMDA acting chairman Carlo Antonio Dimayuga III said the traffic volume along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue has exceeded the pre-pandemic levels as restrictions continued to ease,
Registered vehicles in Metro Manila also continued to increase, hitting the 2.9 million mark last year, 1.44 million of which were motorcycles.
“Based on our data, the daily average number of vehicles plying EDSA is now at 410,000 and has surpassed the 405,000 pre-pandemic mark because of a number of road activities and face-to-face classes reopening,” Dimayuga said.
“With this number, we’re planning to put an exclusive motorcycle lane along Commonwealth Avenue to put the vehicles in order and as part of road safety for the motorcycle-riding public,” he added.
MMDA general manager Baltazar Melgar hoped that the consultation workshop would result to knowledge-sharing, as well as discussion of concrete policy directions and guidelines for motorcycles and other public utility vehicles.
“We, at MMDA, see ourselves as your partners on the road. We want to ensure your safety by providing good and quality infrastructure, as well as to maintain order and discipline on the roads by enforcing the proper rules and regulations. Let us make the roads of the Metropolis safe,” he said.
Meanwhile, 1-Rider party-list Representatives Bonifacio Bosita and Rodge Gutierrez, who were also present in the workshop, were supportive of the move, saying they were “one with the MMDA in this kind of initiatives which recognize motorcycle riders as the most exposed and at-risk sector on the road.”
The event was attended by different agencies and stakeholders from the government and private sectors consisting of bus operators, jeepney operators and motorcycle groups as well as the academe.
Some of the participants were from the government sector, such as the Department of Transportation, the Land Transportation Office, the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, the Philippine National Police , the Highway Patrol Group, and the Quezon City local government.