Looking back in the past year, public transportation in the country took itself to new heights with different commuter-friendly projects laid down by the government.
Here is Manila Standard’s “mobility marvels of 2021” list.
1. LRT-2 East Extension Project
Back in July 2021, the Department of Transportation officially opened the additional two LRT 2 stations in Marikina-Pasig and Antipolo to the public.
Commuters can now travel from Recto to Antipolo in just 40 minutes, much better than the usual three-hour travel time from before.
It is also expected that the LRT extension project will help decongest major roads, especially in Marikina, Pasig and Antipolo.
With the addition of the two stations, the line’s daily capacity increased by 80,000 passengers.
People can also look forward to the ongoing LRT 1 Extension project that aims to add another 11.7 kilometer Baclaran-Bacoor, Cavite segment. The new stretch will have eight stations.
2. Ridership number in EDSA Busway
The EDSA Busway, also known as EDSA Carousel, is the dedicated bus lane service under DOTr, MMDA, DPWH and LTFRB that reached a total of 47 million ridership with an average of 129,000 daily.
Based on the data from LTFRB, for the first quarter of 2021, where the country is under strict security measures, the monthly average of commuters is around two million.
After the lockdowns were lifted and the “Libreng Sakay” under the Service Contracting Program (a program created to help bus drivers on a per-kilometer basis while providing free ride to workers and medical frontliners) of the transportation department and LTFRB were made available, the numbers of monthly ridership ballooned.
During the holiday season in the months of November and December, the ridership averages was around 7.5 million commuters.
3. Improved bike lanes in the Metro
The Department of Transportation completed a huge milestone in making a total of 497-kilometer of bike lanes all over the country.
Aiming to promote active transportation to the masses, 313 kilometers of bike lanes have been opened to use for riders in Metro Manila, while in Metro Cebu, 129 km have been utilized for transport and 55 km in Metro Davao.
Under Republic Act No. 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, the promotion of active transport was strengthened by the declaration of the bicycle as an additional mode of transportation and provision of funding to support the establishment of bike lane networks.
DOTr also shared that it had set another P2 billion for the continuous improvement of bike lanes in the country.
With the projects mentioned above, among others, being significant precedents for what’s to come, we Filipinos could only be optimistic and excited for how “better” our roads shall soon be.