Traffic volume on Metro Manila’s main artery runs 45 to 50 percent over capacity, and the agency says it is trying out different approaches, a phrase motorists have adopted as their life philosophy
The Road That Ate Manila
MANDALUYONG. EDSA, Metro Manila’s most famous and most cursed highway, is carrying around 450,000 vehicles a day on a road designed for between 250,000 and 300,000, according to DZRH’s report on EDSA volume exceeding capacity by up to 50 percent. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority is testing rerouting schemes, signal timing adjustments and stricter enforcement to see what works. MMDA general manager Nicolas Torre III said the agency is trying out different approaches.
Motorists stuck on EDSA welcomed the news, which they had plenty of time to read, reread, discuss with fellow passengers and translate into three languages before moving forward one car length.
Physics Meets Philippine Determination
Traffic engineers point out that putting 450,000 vehicles on a road built for 300,000 is like putting 15 people into a jeepney built for 10, which, as any Manila commuter knows, is perfectly possible if everyone breathes in and nobody carries a bag. The difference is that a jeepney eventually arrives somewhere.
A traffic engineer at a university in Quezon City, who asked not to be named because he is still stuck in traffic from a conference in March, explained the problem with academic clarity. The road is full, he said. Then more cars come. Then the road is fuller. Then the road becomes a parking lot. Then the parking lot becomes a community. People are born on EDSA now. They have barangays.
The Approaches Being Tried
According to DZRH, the MMDA conducts frequent inspections, issues traffic advisories and makes minor changes to traffic management and engineering systems while authorities consider longer-term options such as better public transport and improved road discipline. Malacanang has said congestion solutions are a priority. The 2025 TomTom Traffic Index ranked the Philippines as having the most congested traffic in Asia, a title the country holds with the kind of pride usually reserved for beauty pageant victories, except nobody is smiling.
Commuters have offered their own suggestions. A Quezon City office worker proposed vertical parking for moving vehicles. If buildings can stack people, he said, why not stack cars? Just put a second EDSA on top of EDSA. Then a third. Like a lasagna. Engineers have politely noted that this is called a skyway, and that the skyway is also full.
The Commute As Lifestyle
For millions of Metro Manila residents, the daily commute is not a journey but a lifestyle. Office workers leave home before dawn to beat traffic and return after dark, having spent several hours each day in buses, jeepneys, MRT queues and private cars. Many have adapted with remarkable resourcefulness. They eat breakfast on the bus, apply make-up in the car, take meetings on the phone and, in some cases, complete entire university degrees online during the drive.
A call centre agent in Cubao said she had learned to love her commute. It is my me time, she said. Two hours each way. I watch three Korean drama episodes every day. I have finished every K-drama ever made. I am now watching them again in a different order. Sometimes I hope the traffic is worse so I can finish the season.
The Motorcycle Solution
Motorcycles have become an increasingly popular escape route, weaving between stationary cars with the confidence of people who have made peace with their own mortality. Motorcycle taxis and delivery riders have multiplied. A delivery rider in Ortigas described his technique as calm flow. You do not fight EDSA, he said. You become water. You flow around the cars. Sometimes you flow onto the sidewalk. The pedestrians flow away. Everyone flows. It is very spiritual.
Public Transport, The Real Answer
Transport experts have long argued that the real solution lies in public transport, not road management. The EDSA bus carousel, the MRT and LRT lines, new subway construction and improved commuter rail can move far more people than private cars. A single packed bus carries dozens of passengers in the space of two or three cars. The challenge is building enough capacity, quickly enough, in a city that keeps growing faster than its transit.
The MMDA’s search for better approaches includes stricter enforcement and improved discipline, which commuters agree is necessary, while noting that discipline is easier to demand when there is somewhere to go.
A Day On EDSA
To understand EDSA, one must experience it. A typical evening rush hour from Ortigas to Quezon City can involve stop-start traffic, buses edging into lanes, motorcycles squeezing through gaps, vendors selling water and peanuts between cars and an atmosphere of collective, weary patience. Drivers communicate through an elaborate system of hand gestures, horn patterns and facial expressions that linguists believe constitute a separate language.
The Last Word
Asked whether he believed EDSA traffic would ever be solved, a jeepney driver who has worked the route for thirty years laughed for a long time. When I started, he said, people said it would be fixed in five years. Then ten. Then twenty. Now my grandchildren are asking. I tell them the same thing my father told me. EDSA is not a road. It is a test of character. And so far, he added, starting his engine as the light turned green and the traffic did not move, we are all passing.