MMDA: Number coding window hours to stay

MANILA, Philippines — The window period in the expanded number coding scheme will stay, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced yesterday.

Since August 2022, the agency has implemented the expanded number coding scheme, also called the unified vehicular volume reduction program, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

This means that motorists affected by the scheme will not be apprehended during the window hours from 10:01 a.m. to 4:59 p.m.

In October, the MMDA issued Regulation No. 23-003 that declared number coding would be enforced from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., without the window hours. However, the agency put it on hold, saying it needs to study prevailing vehicular traffic conditions along major roads in Metro Manila.

Makati enforces its own number coding scheme from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

After two weeks of study, acting MMDA Chairman Romando Artes said the agency would no longer remove the window period of the expanded number coding scheme.

During a press briefing hosted by the Philippine Information Agency, he said the MMDA has observed that car traffic in Metro Manila has not gotten worse.

He said the MMDA decided to continue enforcing the expanded number coding scheme to allow motorists who own only one car to use them during the window hours.

The MMDA would be able to manage traffic along major roads, which is expected to become congested during the Christmas season, he added.

The later opening hours, night deliveries, a ban on mall-wide sales for shopping malls in the metropolis and a moratorium on non-urgent road works may have helped reduce car congestion along major roads, Artes said.