No more cars or trucks on our lane

Along many major thoroughfares within Metro Manila and nearby urban areas, there are already designated Motorcycle Lanes (MC Lane) where we're encouraged to stay to make motorcycle travel safer for riders and their pillions. However, since it is not-exclusive to motorcycles, the cars, buses, or trucks that also occupy hardly make it the safe space on the road it was envisioned to be.

If one were to ask any motorcycle rider whose daily commute involves passing through any of these main roads with designated MC Lanes, most would likely point out how these lanes are the most despised part of their commute. We aired our opinion as well in our a feature entitled: 5 reasons why motorcycle lanes are dangerous for riders.

While there seems to be little chance of these lanes disappearing any time soon, there is one improvement on the horizon. EDSA may soon start to implement dedicated MC Lanes.

This was confirmed by EDSA boss, Edison “Bong” Nebrija, in an interview with Cito Beltran on the TV show, Agenda.

“Well it's in the pipeline.” said Nebrija. “The design is already there. It's [just] a matter of constructing it,” he added.

This came after the show's host, Cito Beltran, asked the EDSA boss why there aren't exclusive lanes for motorcycles and bicycles to ease commuting and decongest public transportation. 

“Well actually, we are prioritizing the commuters for now. We're trying to fence off EDSA,” said Nebrija.

The EDSA Czar hopes to limit entry and exit of vehicles on EDSA and fence off key points to keep the traffic moving, as well as keep pedestrians on the sidewalk and restrict loading to specific zones. THis is hoped to instill discipline and improve the traffic situation.

“It [the dedicated MC Lane] was already approved. We've already met with the DPWH and we've already told them about this plan and they [already] agreed on this,” confirmed the EDSA boss.

Should this be implemented, we just hope that the dimensions are wide enough for motorcycles and bicycles to safely travel along EDSA. If it's successful, it may become a model for the other local government units to revise their existing MC Lane policies across the country.

edsa mmda motorcycle lane