It’s final: Makati to have permanent ‘number coding’

The City Council of Makati has approved a permanent number-coding scheme in the city to be implemented anytime next month.

City Ordinance No. 2003-010, approved last Tuesday, was created in response to the ongoing traffic experiments being undertaken by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and in anticipation of the possible outcome of the experiments.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando started a three-week experiment on the number-coding scheme or the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program last Feb. 3. The experiment was supposed to end today.

However, Fernando has already indicated that he would be extending the experiment for another week to try the number-coding scheme exclusively for the private vehicles.

Makati City, which never took part in the experiment from the onset, has decided to make the scheme permanent because of the heavy volume of vehicles in the city.

The city claims that there are more than 300,000 vehicles entering the city on workdays even with the enforcement of the UVVRP.

In effect, no matter what the outcome of the MMDA’s experiment the city would continue to implement the number-coding scheme.

Fernando previously announced that a decision on the fate of the UVVRP would be revealed after the experiment period which could be the permanent lifting of the scheme, re-implementation of the existing scheme or the introduction of a new vehicle reduction program.

Aside from Makati City, only Mandaluyong City and San Juan have expressed their opposition to the lifting of the number-coding scheme and have re-imposed the scheme last week.

Other local government units in Metro Manila have supported the permanent lifting of the UVVRP.

"While the UVVRP may no longer be necessary in other parts of Metro Manila, Makati City is an exception because of the volume of vehicles on (the city’s) roads during daytime," according to the City Ordinance.

No exact date was set by the city government for the implementation of the ordinance but it was indicated that it should take effect 15 days after publication in a newspaper.

Automatically exempted from the number-coding scheme are ambulances, fire trucks, police patrol vehicles, diplomatic vehicles, military vehicles, official government vehicles, school buses, company shuttle services, official media vehicles, accredited tow trucks, vehicles delivering perishable goods, vehicles used by medical practitioners in an emergency, vehicles carrying relief goods and commandeered vehicles used for military relief or emergency purposes. – Marvin Sy