There were a lot of horrible, horrible things that happened during the pandemic, but one good thing to come out of it was the EDSA Busway. Created as a way to decongest the MRT, it has become one the only symbol of mass-transport success in recent memory for Filipinos who have sat still in traffic for most of their adult lives. And now, the Gov’t is floating this dumb idea of removing it to add yet another lane in EDSA, in yet another sad attempt to fix the symptoms of the growing cancer of traffic in Metro Manila.

If it wasn’t obvious already, I’m vehemently against this plan for plenty of reasons, mostly because the people in charge are woefully disconnected from the plight of the regular commuter. They’re all infected with the “one more lane bro” mentality that they don’t realize that reclaiming that busway and going back to the way things used to be isn’t the answer to the traffic problem. Providing fast, efficient and comfortable public transport is.

I’m old enough to remember how things used to be before that busway was implemented as well as the things that the MMDA tried before to contain the buses in yellow lanes. It was freaking chaos – without that barrier separating PUVs and making enforcement easier, it was a free-for-all for the buses that ran through EDSA every single day. It was a nightmare, is what I’m saying.

Don’t get me wrong, the EDSA Busway isn’t perfect, and it has its share of flaws, but it’s fundamentally better than what we had before. I go abroad all the time for foreign coverage, and it really pains me to see efficient mass transport options everywhere EXCEPT WHERE I LIVE.

There are so many other solutions that they can try to help alleviate traffic. Maybe stricter enforcement of public transport routes so AUVs, jeeps and buses don’t hang around choke points in intersections and other areas loading up passengers and block traffic. Maybe impose fees when you’re entering high-traffic CBDs like how Singapore, Malaysia and other countries do it to incentivize mass transport use. Like literally try anything other than ADDING ANOTHER FREAKING’ LANE AND TRANSPORTING US BACK TO 5 YEARS AGO.

Our leaders really need to stop going back to solutions that very obviously do not work. Adding more lanes to roads aren’t the answer. More efficient transportation that goes everywhere is.