Commuter group The Passenger Forum (TPF) has welcomed the decision of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to keep the number coding scheme suspended even as commuters continue to grapple with limited public transportation options.
MMDA Chairman Benhur Abalos recently said there is still no need to reimplement the number coding scheme despite reports of heavy volume of vehicles on EDSA amid the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
"We are happy that Chairman Abalos decided not to lift the suspension of the number coding. We believe it is premature to implement the said scheme given the lack of sufficient public mass transportation options for commuters," TPF Convenor Primo Morillo said in a statement.
Morillo added that Abalos's is "rational and guided by common sense."
According to Morillo, reimposing the number coding scheme will also affect the operations of transport network vehicle services (TNVS) such as Grab, which according to him has been a popular transport option due to the lack of public utility vehicles (PUVs).
Morillo said affected commuters will be forced to use their own vehicles or just add to the long lines in the stations of the railway systems and the EDSA Bus Carousel system.
The group reiterated that the real solution to heavy traffic is to allow additional PUVs to ply their routes.
"Our group believes that the government is on the right track given the allotment of separate lanes for buses and for bicycles. There are, of course, rooms for improvement," Morillo said.
"Given that commuters are still wasting hours lining up in order to go to work or get home, we need to reach pre-pandemic levels of passenger capacity first, by adding more PUVs on the road, before we can even ponder on reimposing the number coding scheme," he added.