The “no window hours” policy imposed on vehicles covered by the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP), which is also known as the Number Coding Scheme, has been extended for another six months.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said it decided to extend the policy after consulting with the Metro Manila Council (MMC), the agency’s policy-making body, and the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (I-ACT), which is composed of the Department of Transportation, Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group.
With the consensus of the MMC and I-ACT, the five-hour window for the UVVRP has been suspended. This means coding hours run from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
MMDA said the suspension of the UVVRP window hours has eased the traffic condition along major thoroughfares in Metro Manila because vehicles banned on a certain day of the week depending on their license plates’ ending digits can no longer avail of the window hours, which usually ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The no window hours policy was implemented last year as one of the government’s measures to ease traffic in Metro Manila.
MMDA general manager Tim Orbos said the extension of the no window hours scheme for six more months will not result in more vehicle purchases because the extension will only be temporary.
“We do not see motorists [resorting] to buying another car just to avoid the No Window Hours policy. It is just impractical,” he said in a statement.
Orbos said the no window hours policy will be discussed again at the next regular meeting of the MMC, which is made up of the 17 Metro Manila mayors.
Under the existing UVVRP, the number coding scheme is also expanded to cover all circumferential and radial roads in Metro Manila. Other roads covered by the number coding scheme are EDSA, C-5 Road, Roxas Boulevard, and Alabang-Zapote Road, as well as roads in the cities of Mandaluyong, Las Piñas, and Makati.
Cargo trucks are not covered by the number coding scheme, but they are still subject to the truck ban.
However, cargo trucks with Terminal Appointment Booking System appointments are not under both the number coding and truck ban schemes.
Image courtesy of kittijaroon at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
