Ortigas Ave. Ext. zipper lane ban on motorcycles due to kamote riders
Ortigas Avenue Extension, particularly the stretch from Pasig City to Cainta, is widely recognized as one of Metro Manila’s most congested thoroughfares. In an effort to mitigate this severe traffic, the local government units (LGUs) of Pasig City and Cainta have implemented a zipper lane within their respective jurisdictions along the busy road.
A zipper lane is a traffic management technique designed to optimize traffic flow by temporarily utilizing a lane from the opposite direction (counterflow). This provides an additional lane in the direction experiencing a greater volume of vehicles, thereby easing congestion.
Now, Pasig City has officially banned motorcycles from using its zipper lane along Barangays Rosario and Sta. Lucia. The reason: kamote riders.
Numerous hit-and-run incidents reported
MotoPinas.com has reached out to Pasig City for clarification on the city’s zipper lane ban on motorcycles. According to them, the city government has received numerous complaints of hit-and-run incidents involving motorcycles who were filtering through vehicles using the zipper lane.
“Our office [has] received numerous complaints against motorcycles that have been involved in hit-and-run incidents (naka-sagi po ng other vehicles along the zipper lane),” said Pasig City’s Traffic and Parking Management Office (TPMO) to MotoPinas.com, through Ugnayan Pasig.
Pasig City TPMO also said that on top of the numerous hit-and-run incidents involving unruly motorcycle riders, the same riders were being road hazards because they counterflow on what’s left on the opposite lane.
“And, also, most of them who were already on the zipper lane and still counterflow on the next lane (Illegal Counterflow), which causes road crashes.”
Pasig City TPMO maintains that its primary objective is to maintain road safety for all road users.
