THERE will be no number coding scheme for private vehicles on December 23 in anticipation of the holiday rush, the Metro Manila Development Authority announced on Monday.
MMDA acting chairman Thomas Orbos said his agency will also suspend the implementation of the scheme or the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program on December 29 in time for the celebration of Rizal Day.
The move, according to Orbos, was made following observation that people are going out of Metro Manila during these days to visit and be with relatives and families in the provinces during the holidays.
He said the UVVRP suspension will help the public to use their vehicles to travel to their respective destinations outside the metropolis.
“These will afford them the opportunity to use their vehicles especially with provincial bus trips fully booked by this time,” Orbos said, adding that people have started flocking to bus terminals as early as Monday.
“Little by little the traffic measures and schemes strictly being implemented by member-government entities of the I-ACT [Inter-agency Council on Traffic] and the Metro Manila Council are being felt in easing traffic situation in Metro Manila,” he said.
I-ACT is composed of MMDA, Naitonal Police and other agencies under the supervision of
Department of Transportation.
The council recently limited the use of provincial buses plying a portion of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, particularly from Timog Avenue to P. Tuazon Boulevard from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. in a bid to improve traffic flow in the area where provincial bus terminals are located.
I-ACT personnel have also started the strict implementation of the Nose-in, Nose-Out Policy on provincial buses entering and exiting the bus terminals as not to cause traffic congestion along Edsa.
Earlier, the traffic council also lifted the Number Coding Scheme for provincial buses starting 1 p.m. of Dec. 22.
It also suspended the UVVRP for provincial buses on Dec. 23, 2016; Dec. 29, 2016; and Jan. 2, 2017.
MMDA records showed that the volume of vehicles plying Edsa is expected to further increase this holiday season.
Based on its vehicular volume count, as early as November 9, the MMDA recorded a total of 166,357 vehicles, including motorcycles, traversed the stretch of the estimated 23 kilometer stretch of EDSA. Of the figure, 132,667 were privates cars, the survey also revealed.
The MMDA survey noted that last Dec. 21, 2015, when the agency conducted its 4th quarter vehicular volume count, a total of 161,248 vehicles registered on the major thoroughfare, bulk of which were also private cars.
There was a 3.17 percent increase in the total volume of vehicles during the two periods which was taken during the 14 hours count. It also excluded vehicles coming to and from flyovers along EDSA, the survey added.
“This only means that as early as a month before Christmas, the volume of vehicles plying EDSA had already reached the level of last year’s number of vehicles,” Orbos said.
With this development, Orbos said the I-ACT is continuously implementing stakeholder-specific schemes and measures to improve the traffic situation in Metro Manila.
The MMDA previously held a series of consultation meetings with various transport groups and several motorcycle riders’ federations to come up with ways to ease the traffic condition in the major roads of the metropolis.