The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Thursday announced it will reimplement the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) or the number coding scheme in the National Capital Region effective August 15, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays except for holidays.
This was after members of the Metro Manila Council (MMC), composed of the 17 mayors in the NCR, approved Resolution No. 22-14 Series of 2022, amid the expected increase in the volume of vehicles upon the resumption of face-to-face classes on August 22.
The MMC is the governing board and the policy-making body of the MMDA.
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 during the said coding hours.
The re-implementation of the number coding scheme in the NCR will reduce traffic volume by 20 percent during the morning and afternoon to evening peak hours, the agency said.
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 the pre-pandemic level.
“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 the ground and through our non-contact apprehension policy,” Acting MMDA chairperson Carlo Dimayuga III said.
“Exempted from the UVVRP are public utility vehicles (including tricycles), 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.”
Meanwhile, existing number coding ordinances of the respective local government units will prevail on secondary roads, the MMDA added.
