Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon on Wednesday said they will be adding more than 100 additional buses to the EDSA Carousel busway and is planning to extend MRT-3 operating hours further as preparation for the coming EDSA rehabilitation tentatively set mid-June.

In an ambush interview, Dizon said 100 to 200 additional buses will be deployed on the EDSA busway to help commuters during the EDSA rehabilitation.

"We've already given a directive to add buses. I think we've already added 50 buses recently, and we'll be adding more when the [EDSA] rebuild starts because we'll need more buses so that more people can ride," Dizon said.

Dizon assured that the EDSA busway will not be removed despite the EDSA rehabilitation starting in the inner lanes dedicated to the carousel busses.

"Even if the inner lane will be fixed, the bus lane will go out to the next lane. It will still be dedicated (to the bus lane) because we cannot sacrifice the commuters. Even if we rebuild EDSA, the EDSA busway carousel will still be there," Dizon added.

The transport secretary said ut is studying extending MRT-3 hours by 30 minutes to one hour to serve more commuters.

"We're currently studying it. As you know, we already extended one hour at night. I already asked to study if we can extend a little more and if we can add more trains," Dizon explained.

The EDSA rebuild, formerly labeled EDSA rehab, was originally scheduled during Holy Week and was later on moved after the 2025 midterm polls in May.

Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan said in a press conference on Wednesday said that they will be prioritizing the sections from Pasay to Shaw Boulevard in line with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit next year.

"Our plan here, while we're going to put priority to those sections from Pasay to Shaw Boulevard, then maybe other sections that we may start also that won't disrupt traffic during the summit in Manila," Bonoan said. Yzabela Velez-White/DMS