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Ping Lacson has sage advice on Edsa traffic to World Cup teams [SPIN.ph]
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From SPIN.ph: Ping Lacson has sage advice on Edsa traffic to FIBA World Cup teams: Avoid Edsa or lose by default.

Ping Lacson has sage advice on Edsa traffic to World Cup teams: Avoid Edsa or lose by default

by SPIN.PH STAFF

FORMER Senator Ping Lacson has a piece of traffic advice to foreign teams competing in the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup.

Avoid Edsa or lose by default.

“Friendly advice to the Fiba World Cup participating teams.” Lacson, a former PNP chief and presidential candidate, said in a post on his official Facebook page. “Don’t take Edsa. You will lose by default.”

Lacson made the comments a day before the quadrennial showpiece unfolds with games set at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, the MOA Arena in Pasay City and the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, a long-problematic traffic bottleneck.

Organizers, however, have long assured that they’ve taken steps to ease the traffic congestion in the Big City from August 25 to September 10, when the country hosts World Cup games from the group stage to the finals.

Among the major steps, organizers have earmarked 400 point-to-point (P2P) shuttle buses for free to fans travelling to the Philippine Arena for Gilas Pilipinas’ opening game against the Dominican Republic on Friday.

Other World Cup games that were originally set at the Philippine Arena were moved to MOA Arena to ease concerns about traffic management from Manila hotels where teams are staying to the Bulacan arena,

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has also announced that it will implement intermittent stops in major roads for the duration of the World Cup to give way to teams and delegates.

Malacanang has already declared August 25 as a holiday for public employees for the World Cup opening.

On Wednesday, the MMDA also announced that it will not suspend the number-coding scheme on Friday and will instead set up a multi-agency command center “to give way to a faster and more coordinated traffic management response.”