TRANSPORTATION Secretary Giovanni Lopez has set a deadline for bus operators to implement the Department of Transportation's (DOTr) long-standing directive — the "EDSA Busway Left-Side Door Policy."
Under this measure, all buses plying the EDSA Busway must have left-side doors, allowing passengers to disembark conveniently and safely, Lopez said on Friday.
At present, he noted that most buses at the EDSA Busway still have doors on the right side, forcing passengers to go around the vehicle to board or alight.
The directive follows President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s order to ensure commuters' safety and comfort using the EDSA Busway, the DOTr chief told The Manila Times.
Lopez reiterated that EDSA Busway operators and the consortium must comply within six months, as the DOTr will no longer extend the deadline.
"I have also instructed acting LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) chairman Greg Pua — I will give our bus operators, our consortium here at EDSA Busway, six months; within six months, the left-side door of the buses must already be functional," according to the DOTr chief.
Lopez issued the ultimatum after inspecting the rehabilitated EDSA Busway Monumento Station together with Senior Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Mark Steven Pastor and Pua.
"We will no longer grant any leniency or extension. We have long given a moratorium on this; this time, in six months, all our buses plying the busway stations should ideally have left-side doors," the top DOTr official said.
The transport chief said that of the more than 500 buses operating on the EDSA Busway, only 181 have left-side doors.
"What is important here is the safety of our passengers — so that passengers would no longer have to go around. Usually, when there is no left-side door, they still have to go around, and that is very dangerous even with a barrier," Lopez said.
He then reminded bus operators who fail to comply within the six-month deadline set by the DOTr and LTFRB that they would be “fined, suspended, or no longer allowed to pass through the EDSA Busway.”
"Now, this is no longer just an appeal — we are going to mandate the operators, the consortium, within six months, that is it. No more, no more extensions — left-side doors are required," Lopez pressed.
