MANILA - Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday urged the Metro Manila Council to enlighten commuters on how its plan to ban single-occupancy vehicles from EDSA during rush hour can ease traffic.

Authorities have yet to announce when it will begin implementing the scheme, but the plan has earned criticism from some motorists.

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"First, the public must be informed as regards the facts and data that led the Metro Manila Council to conclude that a ban on single-passenger vehicles in EDSA could reduce traffic all throughout Metro Manila," said Poe, who chairs the Senate public services committee.

"What makes them so absolutely sure that their proposal will work? What was the result of the trial conducted in December last year? Was it effective? Did it considerably reduce traffic?" she added in a statement.

Some 70 percent of vehicles along EDSA carry only the driver, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) earlier said.

The MMDA must ensure that inner city and barangay roads can handle driver-only vehicles that will be diverted away from EDSA, said Poe.

"If not, we will just be replicating the horrors of EDSA traffic everywhere," she warned.

The lawmaker also urged authorities to consider the circumstances of drivers that will be affected by the new traffic policy.

"They are probably the working solo parents, parents who have to drop their kids along their way to work, spouses who live in the same city but work in different cities, young professionals or workers who cannot afford to hire their own drivers and yet are required to be on time in their offices," she said.