Acting on President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s orders to assist workers, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced plans to deploy over 100 more buses to assist workers who will be affected by the EDSA rehabilitation, which will begin on June 13.

President Marcos had ordered interventions to mitigate the inconvenience to be felt by workers whose daily commute will be affected by the EDSA repairs, according to DOTr Secretary Vince Dizon.

“On the part of the DOTr, ‘yung dalawang major interventions na inutos ng Pangulo are for the workers kasi… sila din ang mga commuters natin,” Dizon said in a press briefing on Friday.

Dizon said that even before the formal announcement of the EDSA rehabilitation project, the DOTr had already begun implementing strategies to alleviate its impact on commuters.

“Ang unang-una nating (proposal), ‘yung pagdagdag ng mga bus sa busway. Malaking bagay po ‘yun. Nagdagdag na po tayo ng 50 bus last month. Magdadagdag pa tayo in the coming weeks nang mahigit 100 pang bus. ‘Yun po, para lang sa workers lang ‘yan,” he said.

Aside from increasing the number of buses, the DOTr is also exerting efforts to increase the number of operational trains and extend the operating hours of MRT-3 that runs along EDSA.

According to Dizon, they will sit down with representatives from workers’ and employers’ groups in a consultation session organized by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma for more inclusive planning.

As part of the government’s “Build Better More” infrastructure program, the EDSA rehabilitation project aims to reduce traffic congestion and mitigate flooding through road repairs and drainage improvements. | PND