MMDA keen on implementing school bus drop-off points

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Traffic Operations Center (TOC) executive director Angelito Vergel de Dios assured Sunday school authorities and parents that the pupils will be safe with its proposed “drop off points" for school buses. In a statement, De Dios said MMDA will renew talks with concerned school authorities and to Parents Teachers Association (PTA) regarding the agency’s proposal. De Dios said the drop-off points are intended to ease traffic in the university belts, such as the Katipunan Avenue. He said the drop-off points for students and pupils were originally discussed two years ago with the Marikina City Hall as the pilot area. “It was stopped when a bus was bombed which does not have any connection with the school service vehicles. The parents got scared that is why it was stopped," De Dios said. De Dios vowed to convince parents and school authorities to support the MMDA’s drop-off points because it will greatly ease traffic in Metro Manila “Realistically, there should be no cause for alarm for the security and safety of the children because it is more difficult to kidnap a shuttle bus with 50 pupils than to abduct one, two or three children riding in private vehicles," De Dios said. For his part, MMDA general manager Robert Nacianceno defended the urgency of implementing drop-off points in Metro Manila, especially in the university belts. Nacianceno said students of a leading university welcomed the idea of having drop-off points because they believe it will solve traffic woes during rush hour. - GMANews.TV