San Miguel Corporation (SMC) announced on Monday, April 26, that it plans to run a bus rapid transit (BRT) on Skyway 3.

SMC said the goal is to implement this from Susana Heights in Muntinlupa City – where the Skyway Extension and South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) exits are located – all the way to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).

The conglomerate built and operates Skyway 3.

“Lessening the vehicles competing for road space is how elevated expressways ease traffic – as we have seen now on EDSA. This also means improving the daily commutes of Filipinos taking public transportation that use these roads,” said SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang.

Ang added that since buses would be on a “controlled expressway,” reliability and predictability of the mode of transport will be higher. He likened the idea to a “high-capacity” point-to-point bus system, but stopping at several designated stations.

Travel from the NLEX to the SLEX is around 20 minutes for a nonstop drive through Skyway 3, from around 3 hours through EDSA.

SMC said it is conducting studies and drawing up a plan to be presented to the Department of Transportation.

Ang also said the project would be easily “scalable” once it is implemented on the elevated tollway.

“[I]n the future, we can also implement this for our other new projects, in order to expand the area of coverage. Our expressways are really designed not just for motorists, but also to serve as a platform for efficient and sustainable mass transportation,” he said.

In Metro Manila, the EDSA Busway is the government’s attempt to have a BRT-like mode of transport. The actual Metro Manila BRT project funded by the World Bank has been delayed. – Rappler.com