Here's a Bright Idea on How to Ease Traffic on EDSA, Conceived By a Commuter While Stuck in Traffic on EDSA
If you’re a regular commuter on EDSA, you’ve probably spent countless hours stewing in traffic on your way to school or work, daydreaming about what it would be like to not waste hours of your life on the road. You might also have come up with a foolproof solution to the traffic problem that has plagued the city for decades.
One person who’s done both is Caleb Cosico, who runs the Facebook page called Waterdiet. Because he passes EDSA regularly, Cosico says he’s tried “every possible route, hack, cheat to beat EDSA traffic.”
“I wait in line at the MRT, or sit in the bus, dreaming of ways to make EDSA traffic more bearable,” he says.
In a series of graphic panels, Cosico’s idea essentially requires public utility vehicles (PUVs) like buses to move to the three innermost lanes of EDSA, instead of the two outermost lanes, where there are designated yellow lanes for them in the current vehicular traffic scheme.
“They’ll be exclusive for PUVs,” he says. “They’re also closed off so commuters can’t stand and wait anywhere they want.”
He also proposes buses to be deployed based on a schedule, “to make sure there won’t be too many of them on the road.”
And as for the question of how people can access the bus stops if they’re in the middle of the road, Cosico suggests placing bus stops at MRT stations and other designated points along the thoroughfare.
“Overpasses will connect the bus stop to the MRT and the street,” he says.
Of course, that would mean private cars would then occupy the outer lanes because, according to Cosico, “they’re the ones that really need to turn into and off EDSA.”
Motorcyles and even bicycles would also be given their own path at the outermost lane of EDSA.
Finally, when all else fails, Cosico proposes one simple solution:
What do you think?
