MMDA eyes 4 options to address current traffic in Metro Manila
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is looking at four options to address the current traffic situation in the National Capital Region (NCR), which is already returning to pre-pandemic levels.
MMDA Chairman Benhur Abalos said Tuesday, Nov. 16, these are reimposition of the truck ban; the reimplementation of the number coding scheme; the partial implementation of number coding scheme, which only during rush hours; or the partial implementation of the number coding scheme, which is only during evening rush hour.
"Right now, we're still monitoring the current traffic in Metro Manila. We have four options in the event that it gets worse," Abalos said in a public briefing.
"Once we see it is already necessary to take action, we will release a policy," he added.
Currently, the volume of traffic along EDSA, Metro Manila's major highway, is already almost the same as it was before lockdowns imposed amid COVID-19 pandemic, Abalos recently said.
According to Abalos, a total of 390,238 vehicles were recorded plying along EDSA on Oct. 7, 2021, which was only a little less than the 405,882 vehicles that passed through on July 8, 2019.
Previously, Abalos shrugged off the resumption of the number coding scheme as the traffic was still "manageable" and to limit the spread of COVID-19 by allowing car owners to use anytime and any day their personal cars, which serve as their "personal bubble."