What effect you’re seeing in the traffic condition of EDSA is just the tip of the iceberg according to Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras as he spoke about how various gov’t agencies now work as one with the solitary goal of decongesting EDSA and its peripheral roads.

Sound traffic management, bus reform and road engineering solutions are the keys for the government to achieve their goal.

"Government currently prioritizes the use of high occupancy vehicles such as buses and trains which carry more passengers per square meter. Part of our traffic management and enforcement proposal will be to introduce yellow lanes as exclusive for public vehicles and high occupancy vehicles, create MMDA Task Force C5, prohibit cars from using bus lanes on non-transition sections, start operations of Terminal Appointment-Based System for the International Container Ports, and study one-way traffic scheme for Makati-Mandaluyong and Estrella-Pantaleon bridges,” Almendras said.

Part of the immediate plans of the government is to add new Express Bus services along with new bus routes, lift the number-coding for public utility buses, require bus operators to install GPS and also establish a bus monitoring and dispatch appointment system.

“In addition, we are set to build the North-South Railway (Malolos-Manila-Los Banos) and construct the Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge (connect Bonifacio Global City in the Taguig-Makati area and Ortigas Center in Pasig),” added Almendras.