Starting Monday, Aug. 15, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will reimplement the number coding scheme that will include the morning rush hours.
Based on the resolution approved by the Metro Manila Council (MMC), the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) will be in effect from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the morning and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the afternoon during weekdays, except holidays.
Under the scheme, vehicles with license plates ending in 1 and 2 are prohibited on Monday, 3 and 4 on Tuesday, 5 and 6 on Wednesday, 7 and 8 on Thursday, 9 and 0 on Friday.
Vehicles with license plates that fall in the prohibited days, however, will be allowed to travel during the window hours.
MMDA Acting Chairman Carlo Dimayuga III said the re-implementation of the number coding scheme in the NCR will reduce traffic volume by 20 percent during the morning and afternoon/evening peak hours.
"From August 15 to 17, we will start the dry run and will only remind motorists of the expanded number coding scheme. From August 18 onwards, the MMDA will start apprehending and will issue traffic violation tickets on ground and through our non-contact apprehension policy," Dimayuga said.
The MMC, composed of 17 mayors in Metro Manila, met with the MMDA on Thursday, Aug 11, to discuss ways to address the expected increase in the number of vehicles plying the National Capital Region once the face-to-face classes starts.
The Department of Education earlier said that it will push for the resumption of full face-to-face classes by November this year.
The number coding scheme was suspended at the height of the lockdown measures. When the Covid-19 situation starts to normalize, the MMC and the MMDA decided to implement the number coding scheme during the afternoon rush hours, or from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the average number of vehicles plying EDSA daily was at 405,000.
Based on the latest vehicle volume count conducted by the MMDA Traffic Engineering Center on August 4, approximately 387,000 vehicles traversed EDSA. The volume is expected to balloon to 436,000 or higher than pre-pandemic level.
Dimayuga, however, said that public utility vehicles are exempted from the number coding scheme.
These include transport network vehicle services, motorcycles, garbage trucks, fuel trucks, marked government vehicles, fire trucks, ambulances, marked media vehicles, and motor vehicles carrying essential and/or perishable goods.
He, however, said that the existing number coding ordinances of the respective local government units will prevail on secondary roads.