Transportation in Metro Manila

EDSA

Commonwealth Avenue

Ayala Avenue

The existing main roads of Metro Manila are organized around a set of Radial and Circumferential roads established during the American period in the country's history. All R roads originate from various points in the city of Manila and radiate south, east or north to the other cities in Metro Manila and end farther out into the Greater Capital Region and beyond. In a similar way, all C roads run in a half circle that begins and ends at Manila Bay, with Manila at the innermost circle.

The only major thoroughfare in Metro Manila not included in the arterial road system is Dr. Arcadio Santos Avenue (formerly Sucat Road) in Paranaque, designated as Highway N63.

• Radial Road 1 - Anchored on Roxas Blvd, from Bonifacio Drive up to and including Cavitex in Kawit, Cavite. A portion of Roxas Blvd is designated as Highway N61.
• Radial Road 2 - Anchored on Taft Avenue, from the Lagusnilad Underpass in front of Manila City Hall up to and including Aguinaldo Highway in Cavite. Part of the road is designated Highway N62.
• Radial Road 3 - Anchored on Osmena Highway/SLEX, from Quirino Avenue through to the Santo Tomas exit in Batangas.
• Radial Road 4 - An incomplete road, it starts from Pedro Gil Street through Makati where the main part of the road is J.P.Rizal Avenue. From there, the road is undefined until it reaches Pateros and Taytay before ending at the Manggahan Floodway.
• Radial Road 5 - Anchored on Shaw Boulevard and Ortigas Avenue, from V. Mapa Street up to and including the Manila East Road. Part of the road is designated as Highway N60.
• Radial Road 6 - Anchored on Magsaysay Boulevard and Aurora Boulevard, from Legarda Street up to and including the Marikina-Infanta Highway. The road is designated as either Highway N59 or N180 .
• Radial Road 7 - Anchored on Espana Boulevard, Quezon Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue, from Lerma up to and including Quirino Highway to Bulacan.
• Radial Road 8 - Anchored on Dimasalang Street and NLEX, from Quiapo to Clark in Pampanga.
• Radial Road 9 - Anchored on Rizal Avenue, from Carriedo to MacArthur Highway in Rosario, Pangasinan.
• Radial Road 10 - Anchored on Marcos Road in Tondo, from the Del Pan Bridge up to the intersection with C-4.

• Circumferential Road 1 - Anchored on Recto Avenue and Ayala Avenue, from Tondo to the Luneta Park.
• Circumferential Road 2 - Anchored on Lacson and Quirino avenues, from Tondo to Roxas Boulevard.
• Circumferential Road 3 - An incomplete road, anchored on Araneta Avenue, from R-10 in Navotas to Buendia Avenue in Pasay, with the broken segment in Makati.
• Circumferential Road 4 - Dominated by the whole length of EDSA, from the R-10 intersection to the Mall of Asia in Pasay.
• Circumferential Road 5 - Segments are incomplete but under construction (as of Feb. 2019), from NLEX Karuhatan segment to the FTI area in Taguig, and ultimately to the Coastal Road (Cavitex) in Las Pinas.
• Circumferential Road 6 - The beltway of Metro Manila, it will be anchored by the Southeast Metro Manila Expressway (also known as Skyway Stage 4[6]) currently under construction, from MacArthur Highway in Marilao, Bulacan to Kawit, Cavite.

North Luzon Expressway

Skyway Stage 3, under construction as of September 2019

Expressways are controlled-access highways, with crossing traffic limited to overpasses, underpasses, and interchanges. Metro Manila is served by the following expressways:

• North Luzon Expressway
• Skyway
• South Luzon Expressway
• Muntinlupa–Cavite Expressway
• NAIA Expressway

There are expressways under construction or proposed. These include:

• Southeast Metro Manila Expressway[7]
• C-5 South Link Expressway
• C-5 Expressway
• Pasig River Expressway
• Metro Manila Skybridge[8]
• Manila–Quezon Expressway
• R-7 Expressway

Pasig River

Jones Bridge

Guadalupe Bridge and Line 3 Bridge

Marikina River

Marcos Bridge

Line 2 Bridge

There are a total of 33 bridge spans in Metro Manila that cross the Pasig and Marikina rivers, including one tollway bridge, four rail-only bridges, the Line 1, Line 2, Line 3 and the PNR tracks.

The bridges are listed below in west to east order, with the first bridge nearest to the mouth of the Pasig River into Manila Bay.

• Roxas Bridge - formerly called Del Pan Bridge (San Nicolas to Port Area)
• Jones Bridge - formerly called Puente de España (Binondo to Ermita)
• MacArthur Bridge (Sta. Cruz to Ermita)
• Line 1 (Carriedo Station to Central Station)
• Quezon Bridge (Quiapo to Ermita)
• Ayala Bridge (San Miguel to Ermita)
• Mabini Bridge - formerly called Nagtahan Bridge (Sta. Mesa to Pandacan)
• Philippine National Railways (Santa Mesa Station to Pandacan Station)
• Padre Zamora Bridge formerly called Pandacan Bridge (Sta.Mesa to Pandacan)
• Skyway (Nagtahan Interchange to Aurora Boulevard Interchange)
• Lambingan Bridge (Sta. Ana)
• Makati-Mandaluyong Bridge
• Line 3 (Boni station to Guadalupe Station)
• Guadalupe Bridge (Makati to Mandaluyong)
• C.P. Garcia Bridge (Makati to Pasig)
• Kaunlaran Bridge (Pasig)
• Bambang Bridge (Pasig)
• Kalawaan Bridge (Pasig)
• Napindan Bridge (Pasig to Taguig)

Two new bridges are under construction:

• Binondo–Intramuros Bridge[9]
• BGC-Ortigas Link Bridge
• Estrella–Pantaleon Bridge[9] (reconstruction)

The bridges listed below are those located in Metro Manila crossing the Marikina River (listed towards the confluence with the Pasig River in a north to south order):

• Batasan-San Mateo Bridge (Quezon City to San Mateo, Rizal)
• Gil Fernando Bridge (Marikina)
• A. Bonifacio Bridge (Marikina)
• Marcos Bridge (Marikina)
• Line 2 (Santolan Station to Katipunan Station)
• Diosdado Macapagal Bridge (Quezon City to Marikina)
• Caruncho Bridge (Quezon City to Pasig)
• Rosario Bridge (Pasig)
• Sandoval Bridge (Pasig)
• Kaginhawaan Bridge (Pasig)
• Vargas Bridge (Pasig)
• Sta. Rosa de Lima Bridge (Pasig)

A Jeepney in Manila.

Jeepneys are the most popular mode of public transportation in the Philippines, they have also become a ubiquitous symbol of the Philippine culture.[11] According to the Metro Manila Dream Plan report by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a survey made in 2007 came out with 48,366 public utility jeepneys plying some 600 routes nationwide, with 61% serving the Greater Capital Region, which includes Metro Manila. In 2000, jeepneys and tricycles topped all modes of travel in Metro Manila at 46%, before light rail became popular, followed by buses at 24% and private vehicles at 21%.[12] At present, there are around 270,000 franchised jeepney units on the road across the country, with some 75,000 units in Metro Manila alone.[13]

In 2016, the Department of Transportation and Communications imposed an age limit on jeepneys of 15 years, with older jeepneys starting to be phased out.[14] Many jeepney operators oppose the phase-out,[15] and politicians urged the government to drop the jeepney modernization program.[16] As part of the PUV modernization program all new and existing vehicles must be fitted with a tap card system which allows commuters to pay for their trip.[17] The system would enable journey details to be recorded and the appropriate fare deducted from the stored value on the card.[18]

Aside from dilapidated jeepneys, public utility buses (PUBs) are the bane of Metro Manila's congested roads, due to their numbers, their sheer physical size, and the methods of bus drivers and conductors of loading and unloading passengers. On any given day, some 3 million vehicles pass Metro Manila's main circumferential artery, EDSA or C-4. Of the total, about 140,000 are buses, according to an article by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).[19] "The boorish behavior of many public buses -- as well as the fact that far too many of them are on the road -- has gotten worse through the years." Figures from the LTFRB indicate that there are about 13,000 buses operating in Metro Manila run by 1,200 operators, about half of them using EDSA. In response to this, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) ordered the removal of all provincial bus terminals along EDSA by 2019.[20] On June 1, 2020, MMDA instituted the EDSA Busway.

Manila has many metrobus companies such as Erjohn & Almark, Baclaran Metro Link and AC Trans. These use old Japanese buses (especially Isuzu or Nissan Diesel) converted to left-hand drive while the prevalence of surplus South Korean buses (like Daewoo and Kia) which are originally left hand is also popular nowadays. New buses on the other hand are also now popular with the influx of Chinese-made buses.

Franchised city buses are:

• BGC Bus
• Citylink Coach Services
• HM Transport

Source: LTFRB; Google Maps. Listed in the order of interchange with Lines 1,2,3 and PNR Commuter. Note: Rail lines and facilities in italics are proposed and/or under construction.

Manila Light Rail Transit System Line 2 (Line 2) (left) and Manila Metro Rail Transit System Line 3 (Line 3) (right)

System map of the Manila railway system (current as of July 2015)

The development of mass transit had its inception in the 1970 when the Philippine National Railways offered among its services the first Metro Commuter line. Line 1, which is the first rail line operated by the Light Rail Transit Authority, a government corporation, opened in 1984, making it the first rapid rail transport in Southeast Asia. It was followed in 1999 by Line 3 along EDSA operated by the private company, Metro Rail Transit Corporation, before Line 2 was completed in 2003. Together, these four lines run by three different entities bear the brunt of providing the metropolis with rail as a faster alternative mode of transport other than buses and jeepneys. More rapid transit rail lines are in the planning stages or under construction as of 2019.

As of 2018, there were two different rapid transit systems in Metro Manila: the Manila Light Rail Transit System, or the LRTA System, and the Manila Metro Rail Transit System, or the MRTC System. The Green Line (Line 1) and the Blue Line (Line 2) form the LRTA network, while the Yellow Line (Line 3) forms the MRTC network, with 31 stations on the LRTA and 13 stations on the MRTC. Four more lines are proposed and would connect Metro Manila to the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal upon their completion.

A third generation Line 1 train heading to EDSA station

Line 2 Train approaching Katipunan station.

The Manila Light Rail Transit system, run by the LRTA, is one of the main railway networks of Metro Manila.[21] It has a total of 31 stations (20 in Line 1 and 11 for Line 2), over a total of 31 kilometers of grade separated track. Line 1 runs along parts of Taft Avenue, Rizal Avenue, and Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), traveling a north–south route through the cities of Quezon City, Caloocan, Manila, Pasay and Paranaque. On the other hand, Line 2 covers parts of Recto Avenue, Legarda Street, Magsaysay Boulevard, Aurora Boulevard, and Marikina-Infanta Highway (Marcos Highway), in an east–west route which passes through the cities of Manila, Marikina, San Juan, Quezon City, and Antipolo in Rizal. Although Line 2 has been part of the system, it is actually a heavy rail full-metro rapid transit line. Combined, the two lines have a daily ridership of 750,000.

Line 3 Train approaching Ayala station.

The Manila Metro Rail Transit system is another railway network in Metro Manila, composed of independent railway lines not under the control or supervision of the LRTA or PNR. Currently it is only composed of one line, Line 3, which was completed in 2000.[22] This single line runs solely along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), one of Metro Manila's main thoroughfares. Line 3 has 13 stations along its 16.95 kilometers of grade separated track, on a north–south route which passes through the cities of Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Makati and Pasay. The busiest among the rail lines, it has a daily ridership of almost 600,000. The system is set to gain a new line in 2021 with the opening of Line 7,[23] currently under construction, which will run from the North EDSA common station through Commonwealth Avenue to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

Philippine National Railways (PNR) operates a commuter line that serves a region from Metro Manila south toward Laguna. PNR, a state-owned railway system of the Philippines, was established during the Spanish Colonial period. It used to provide services on Luzon, connecting northern and southern Luzon with Manila. In 1988, the railway line to northern Luzon (Northrail) became disused although plans to revive the northern line (Northrail) have been proposed. Services on the southern line (Southrail) continued throughout the 90s, but were halted as a consequence of damages caused by typhoons Milenyo and Reming. After a short revival, services to Bicol from Manila were halted again in 2012. The national government plans to reopen the line to Bicol in the future.

The Philippine National Railways commuter service line, Metro Commuter Line has two parts. Metro South Commuter run daily between Tutuban and Alabang.[24] There are plans to extend this service further south to Calamba with the rehabilitation of the rail line. Metro North Commuter run between Tutuban and Governor Pascual.

The North and South Commuters combined, when fully rehabilitated, will have a length of 122 kilometers from Clark in Pampanga in the north to Calamba, Laguna in the south, and stop at all 48 train stations in between. The Metro Commuter has a present ridership of 100,000 daily.

The projected 2024 railway Map of Metro Manila, excluding the Makati Subway[25]

Future commuter rail and rapid transit systems are being planned and constructed in Metro Manila. Projects include:

• Rehabilitation of the current PNR Metro Commuter service to Valenzuela
• North–South Commuter Railway
• Line 1 Southern Extension Project
• Line 4
• Line 5 (Makati Subway)
• Line 6[26]
• Line 7
• Line 8, also known as the PNR East-West Railway.[27]
• Line 9 (Metro Manila Subway)
• Makati-BGC Skytrain[28]
• Line 10[29]

As of January 2021, the government's mass transit infrastructure build-up is active:

• Upgrading and extension of the PNR Metro North Commuter Line Phase 1, extending from Tutuban central terminal to Malolos, Bulacan, under construction.
• PNR Metro North Commuter Line Phase 2, further extending from Malolos to New Clark City with a spur to the Clark International Airport, in pre-construction.
• Line 1 southern extension to Bacoor, Cavite, under construction.
• Line 2 east extension to Antipolo, under construction.
• Line 4, an approved Metro line, in pre-construction.
• Line 5 (Makati Subway), an approved underground Metro line in Makati, under construction.
• Line 7, a new Metro line, under construction.
• Line 8, a proposed Metro line, for approval. Also known as the PNR East-West Railway.[27]
• Line 9 (Metro Manila Subway), a new underground Metro line, under construction.
• Makati-BGC Skytrain, an approved monorail line connecting Line 3 Guadalupe Station to Bonifacio Global City, in pre-construction.[28]
• Line 10, an unsolicited proposal for a metro line along the C-5 Corridor, for endorsement by the Department of Transportation to the NEDA Board.[29]
• Line 11, an unsolicited proposal for a metro line along Quirino Highway and Zabarte Road Corridor, for endorsement by the Department of Transportation to the NEDA Board.[30]

The EDSA Busway is the first and only Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system currently existing in Metro Manila starts from Monumento in Caloocan until Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).

A planned introduction to the metropolis is the rapid bus transit (BRT), a system that makes use of a dedicated lane, buses with large traffic volume, suitable stations and employs intelligent transportation system. Several BRT lines have been discussed and proposed, all are pending approval.

• Bonifacio Global City Bus[31]
• C-5
• Quezon Avenue to Manila City Hall

Express point-to-point buses provide non-stop or limited stop travel along Metro Manila. As of 2019, there are 52 points in the GCR served by P2P buses.[32] Majority of the routes are served by single decker buses with just two served by double deckers.

Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 (left) and 3 (right)

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (IATA airport code MNL) is the main international gateway to the Philippines, located between Pasay and Parañaque, about seven kilometers south of Manila city proper and southwest of Makati. Terminal 1 only serves international flights. All foreign carriers operating in Manila use Terminal 1 except for All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, KLM, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines. Terminal 2 (or the Centennial Terminal), opened in October 1999, is used exclusively by Philippine Airlines for both its domestic and international service. Terminal 3, opened in August 2008, is the home terminal of Cebu Pacific, the country's second largest airline. Its international wing houses the 9 foreign carriers not using Terminal 1. It also houses some domestic flights of PAL through its subsidiary Air Philippines. Terminal 4 is used by smaller aircraft of all domestic carriers, and by Air Asia as well.

With a record-breaking 42-million people using the airport in 2017, NAIA has long breached the 30-million combined passenger capacity of its four terminals.[33] A proposal to expand NAIA, submitted by a consortium of the country's largest conglomerates, involves the expansion of the current terminals and the construction of an integrated hub as well as a second parallel runway.[33] There are also exploratory talks to transfer terminal assignments among airlines.[34]

Both NAIA and Clark International Airport, located in the Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles, Pampanga serve the Manila area, with CIA catering mostly to low-cost carriers that avail themselves of the lower landing fees than those charged at NAIA. In 2018, Clark handled 2.6 million passengers, all the while undergoing expansion to bring capacity to 12 million with the addition of a second terminal to be finished by 2020.

In June 2014, JICA formally recommended the construction of a new airport in the vicinity of Sangley Point, Cavite City to replace the space-constricted NAIA. The recommendation involved the reclamation of Manila Bay to locate the new airport. This is contained in JICA's Metro Manila Dream Plan roadmap.

San Miguel Corporation, builders and concessionaires of the Manila Skyway and other infrastructure projects, submitted another unsolicited proposal in April 2018 to build an airport in northeast Manila Bay. In July 2019, the Swiss challenge period ended with no rival bids, and in September 2019 was given the Notice to Proceed from the Department of Transportation to build, operate and maintain the New Manila International Airport.[35] Pre-construction activities, including dredging of the rivers and canals leading to the site, began in October 2020. The first phase, consisting of two runways and the terminal buildings, is scheduled for completion by 2026.[36] The proposed aerotropolis will be located at a reclaimed area of Manila Bay in Bulacan, Bulacan. (This is a current event; developments are ongoing along this issue.)

The Port of Manila, located in the vicinity of Manila Bay, is the chief seaport of the Philippines. It primarily serves the city's commercial needs. North Harbor and South Harbor experience busy periods during long holidays such as Holy Week, All Saints Day and the Christmas holidays.

The Pasig River Ferry Service operates 17 stations along the Pasig River from Plaza Mexico in Intramuros to Pasig. The ferry service is the only water-based transportation that cruised the Pasig River.