THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Sunday said the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) or number coding scheme in the morning will take effect today, Monday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekdays except holidays.
According to the Public information Office of the agency, 370 traffic enforcers will be deployed on Edsa but will only warn violators.
The agency will issue traffic violation receipts on August 18.
“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,” MMDA Acting Chairman Engr. Carlo Dimayuga said.
On August 11, the Metro Manila Council (MMC), composed of the Metro Manila mayors, agreed in a meeting, through MMDA Resolution No. 22-14 Series of 2022, to revive the number coding scheme in the morning in preparation for the face-to-face classes on August 22. Currently, the scheme is implemented from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
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.
Dimayuga said that the reimplementation of the number coding scheme will reduce traffic volume by 20 percent during the morning and afternoon/evening peak hours.
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 traverse Edsa.
The volume is expected to balloon to 436,000 or higher than prepandemic level.
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 MMC, composed of the 17 local government units of Metro Manila, is the governing body and policy-making body of the MMDA.