Now that the pandemic’s pretty much over, traffic has returned roughly back to normal, with motorists getting frustrated at the amount of time wasted on the road due to this. EDSA is the major thoroughfare that’s notorious for heavy, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and MMDA recently released its statistics on vehicle volume and average speed along EDSA.

Now here’s the juicy part: the average speed along EDSA for both northbound and southbound has apparently improved. According to MMDA’s data, the average speed in EDSA southbound has improved by more than double at 22.46 Km/H on their May 22, 2023 data–compared to a measly 11.02Km/H based on their January 20, 2020 data.

From the same May 22, 2023 data, average speeds for EDSA Northbound is at 24.98Km/H, which is slightly higher compared to the 21.67Km/H average speed based on MMDA’s January 20, 2020 data.

Now here where we have doubts about MMDA’s data: unlike with travel speed, the volume of vehicles plying around EDSA has increased to 425,890 on May 22,2023–compared to 405,882 vehicles based on their July 8, 2019 data. That translates to around a 5% increase in vehicle volume post-pandemic. 

So how come that the average speed in EDSA has improved despite the increase in vehicle volume? Some of the possible factors would include better road conditions for the majority of EDSA, along with new road infrastructure that helps relieving the congestion along Metro Manila’s major thoroughfare despite the increase in volume.

As much as Filipinos would have mixed opinions about MMDA’s data on EDSA, it’s still a positive development with the traffic situation in the Philippines, though we really think that coding and more roads is not enough to resolve this. The best solution to solve our traffic woes is still by improving our public transporation–something that we can’t wait to see once the Metro Manila Subway is finally complete and operational.