| MMDA�s Bus Terminal By Antonio C. Abaya Written Nov. 10, 2004 For the Philippines Free Press, November 20 issue Don�t look now, but the geniuses at the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) are working on plans to build a bus terminal, 2.4 kilometers long, under the Skyway, from the Magallanes Interchange all the way to Buendia, according to a news item in Philstar.com (Nov. 03). The supposed purpose of this terminal, named South Transport Terminal or STT, is to prevent provincial buses coming from the south of Luzon from entering Metro Manila and congesting EDSA and other nearby metro arteries. The MMDA should be reminded that the underside of the Skyway, from Magallanes to Buendia, is very much inside Metro Manila, which begins at the boundary between San Pedro de Tunasan and Muntinlupa, more than 25 kilometers away.. Locating the STT under this stretch of the Skyway is absolutely insane. Just imagine some 3,000 provincial buses plying the routes to and from Laguna, Batangas and Bicol loading and unloading their passengers in this already congested metro artery. I pass this way everyday to and/or from Makati and I can swear on a stack of Bibles, Talmuds and Qurans that vehicular traffic on this so-called South Super Highway reached saturation point many years ago. Forcing 3,000 road-hogging provincial buses into an already crowded artery would be an exercise in sado-masochism by the MMDA�s bureaucrats, who already have enough problems trying (unsuccessfully) to keep traffic flowing in both directions on this artery. MMDA evidently wants to use the existing sidewalks of the northbound lanes for buses coming in from the south to unload their passengers on to. And, presumably, this is also where they will be allowed to pick up passengers for the return trips to the south. Does the MMDA realize the full implications of this arrangement? This means that the thee northbound lanes of the so-called South Super Highway will in effect be reduced to only two lanes, since the third and outermost lane will become a slow lane, unsuitable for through traffic. The third lane will become a slow lane because this will be where the buses will enter the STT from and where they will exit the STT into. This will also be where taxis and private cars, carrying passengers going south, will slow down to look for the correct buses; and where they will again slow down, the taxis to pick up new fares, and private cars to pick up relatives or friends arriving from the south. There is just not enough room in the chosen space to allow faster entry and exit. And, after they have unloaded their passengers from the south and have loaded new passengers for the return trip, where are these 3,000 provincial buses expected to turn around? I can see only one turn-around point: under the Buendia underpass, which is already perennially choked with traffic at all hours of the working day. MMDA�s plan for the STT will just make a bad situation worse, an already congested artery even more congested. I am glad that Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay has rejected this insane idea on the valid grounds that the space is too small for a bus terminal, and that he has plans instead to build a much needed park on the space directly under the Magallanes Interchange. Don�t let them change your mind, Jojo. And don�t get me wrong, Bayani. I have been pushing for an STT (and an NTT) long before you became chair of MMDA. The idea of keeping provincial buses out of Metro Manila is a sound one, to decongest the metro streets and to reduce air pollution. That�s why I objected to Sonny Belmonte�s Pabahay sa Riles and supported Vic Lim�s idea of a subway running under the PNR�s right-of-way. But you chose the wrong place for your STT, Bayani. Some 15 to 20 years ago, there was a plan to relocate the Muntinlupa Penitentiary to somewhere else and to use its site (about 600 hectares) for an STT. This was an excellent idea that should be revived by President Arroyo. Turning the penitentiary site into a bus terminal would generate more than enough revenues to pay for the building of a new prison complex somewhere else. Its size is ideal for a bus terminal (with shopping malls, hotels, convention hall and cinemas), and its location, near the existing PNR tracks, makes the idea of the South Rail commuter line or even a subway even more attractive. Bus passengers coming from Laguna, Batangas and Bicol disembark at the Muntinlupa STT where they change to a railcar or a subway for the trip to the metro centers. And vice versa. (Changing from one bus to another bus should be only a temporary arrangement until the rail line or subway is operational.) This would decongest not only EDSA and the so-called South Super Highway, but also the South Luzon Expressway from Magallanes to Muntinlupa, even further to Calamba if South Rail were to run all the way there. Air pollution would be substantially reduced. And millions of commuters and motorists would be saved hours in their daily commutes that they now waste in kilometers-long traffic jams such as the �moving parking lot� that sometimes stretches from Magallanes all the way to Santa Rosa. Putting the STT under the Skyway from Magallanes to Buendia would do the exact opposite. Forget it, Bayani. Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles in www.tapatt.org. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �MMDA�s Bus Terminal� Hi Tony---got the latest re. the bus terminals. Must agree with your comments---the MMDA at times displays a total lack of intelligence or understanding of reality. A northern and a southern outlet is of course well overdue. The prison area was mooted once as a site for a waste transfer station serving San Mateo Landfill. The idea of transferring the prison to another location is good --- I notice developers here in Malaysia are very quick to pick up parcels of prime land for development in the inner city areas and then transfer those other facilities outside the city such as the racecourse. Prison farm facilities should be located out of the city and that land used as a fast track terminal. As you rightly say---shopping malls and hotels located over the top of the immense transport interchange. I am left wondering when the MMDA comes up with their ever amazing nonsense. I was wondering if it is likely that the landfill in San Mateo will ever be opened again and the transfer station in Las Pinas be used as a modern transfer station to ease the garbage problems in MMDA. Just wondering !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Regards John Craige, [email protected] Malaysia, November 15, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hola Tony, Here is a reaction from Jorge Araneta, Chairman of the Araneta Group of Companies (brother-in-law of Mar Roxas; Ali Mall, Cubao properties, etc). You might wish to furnish him your suggested response to his query: "Jorge L. Araneta" <[email protected]> Fil -------- Original Message -------- Subject: RE: [MMDA's Bus Terminal] Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:54:12 +0800 From: "Araneta, Jorge L." <[email protected]> What can we do to stop this LUNACY?? MY REPLY. Lean on GMA to lean on Bayani. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, Lovely piece on another one of the MMDA's [good intention] paving blocks to hell. If its any consolation, the practice of buses, fx's and jeepneys clogging 60% of all major artery lanes has long been tolerated on the entire stretch of EDSA, pre-BF and during-BF. I am sure many would be happy if this one last area under Magallanes is barred from the "Terminal treatment" as it is already a mess with Pasong Tamo Jeepneys just on the periphery. These multi-lane bus stops effectively leave one lane left for thru-traffic and these worsen after 8PM every night when flyover and underpass approaches augment as additional "tolerated" bus stops. I see it every night - from EDSA-Buendia, EDSA-Guadalupe, EDSA Pioneer, EDSA Shaw, EDSA-Ortigas, EDSA Santolan, EDSA-New York-Kamuning, EDSA-Quezon Ave., EDSA SM North, EDSA Roosevelt, EDSA-Balintawak and now that the Lopez run North Expressway has walled in the Camachille area, the entire EDSA clover leaf is a bus terminal. Our problem really is that our bus stops cannot accomodate 40 to 50 buses and another 30 Fx's, competing for 150 passengers converging on the same narrow piece of real estate at the same time, organized bus route or yellow lane notwithstanding. Even double bus lanes, unusual because all other cities that have bus lanes are single lane [like a tramway]. You may have seen that in some cities in China, India and South America and even Rome, multi-unit bus stops [not more than 12 at any one time] are off the main road and there are diagonal parking bays where busses can be boarded and dispatched to schedule before merging back into the main road. Barring that, bus routes are designed to go around city blocks before rejoining the main road where pick-up and disembarkation are prohibited. But its too simple an idea for the bright boys at MMDA. Add to this is the irrelevance of some street signs and road markings that ,if you follow them, may cost you your life [like smashing into an MRT station pillar]. No wonder no one reads, much less follow and believe road signs. While we are on the subject of MMDA's good intentions, remember the time when they claimed Corinthian Garden's private forest beside EDSA as public open space and which they can therefore claim as EDSA right of way? They tried that on the other side of EDSA Greenhills, knocking down walls and even old NAWASA gate valves. If the Meralco poles were not high voltage one, who knows, they may have been knocked down too. They were about to lope off 30% of the private property of the corner gas stations until lawyers intervened. None of the property owners were warned of the guerilla attack of the demolition crew. Naturally, none of the property owners could be warned as they have not violated any Mandaluyong City ordinance. Of course, all the property damage the MMDA crew caused? No one believes that MMDA will indemnify the private property of Belson Towers and all the building owners the MMDA wrecking crew wantonly destroyed. Rumor has it that MMDA had used a surveyor, who did not know that EDSA already lost 1 and half lanes to the ground level MRT in that section and proceeded to declare the easement as having been taken over by the buildings that have been lining this portion of EDSA since the 1980s. Somehow, a used car dealer along the same strip, sometimes with cars overflowing on the sidewalk, renting from someone the locals call "Mayora", is exempt from such "easement violations". I for one used to admire the way BF did his bit to make the city habitable. But when the MMDA goes around not respecting property rights, no matter how much I respect his U-turn systems, his pink fences, his steel pedestrian overpasses, his Metrobank fine payment system, his vendor clearing operations, his reduction of the so-called coding hours, it is very difficult for me to give him my support if the MMDA is no respecter of the rule of law and fair play. The rampant 24/7 abuses of all forms of public transport is still the fruit of what he will be judged. The end never justifies the means. Thank you for citing another flawed MMDA idea. Tito F. HERMOSO, [email protected] November 16, 2004 Editor-in-chief C! Magazine Motoring columnist "not so fast" Business World wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony---you should know by now that its almost impossible to stop politicians from going ahead with dumb ideas----seems to be the only path they know. Kind regards to you and keep up the good work---my friends all comment on your work. They love it. John Craige, [email protected] Malaysia, December 01, 2004 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
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