MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said Tuesday it will no longer allow “window hours” in all cities that implement the number coding scheme.
MMDA General Manager Jojo Garcia said they asked all local government units (LGUs) to lift the window hours policy in their cities so that vehicles banned for the day under the number coding scheme will be prohibited from plying the roads from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) or number coding scheme bans private and public vehicles from plying the roads in Metro Manila one day per week based on the license plate’s last digit.
However, some cities implement “window hours” wherein vehicles that cannot ply the roads for the day can use the roads for a few hours. In Malabon, San Juan, Manila, and Valenzuela, the window hours are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. In Parañaque and Pasig, it’s from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
But there are also cities that do not allow window hours such as Las Piñas City, Caloocan, Mandaluyong, and Pasay.
“We requested na baka pwede standard na tayo wala nang may window. From 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. lahat ng city except yung mga walang coding [like yung] Marikina, Taguig [at] Navotas,” Garcia told reporters in an ambush interview in MMDA Building in Makati City.
(We requested to standardize the no window hour policy. From 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., all cities [will follow that], except those that do not implement the number coding scheme such as Marikina, Taguig, and Navotas.)
During the Metro Manila Council meeting, Garcia noted that majority of the LGUs approved the proposal to standardize the “no window hours” policy.
“Ni-request namin na kaya lang kung gusto nila ‘yan [standardize the no window hours policy] May ordinansa yan may proseso sila. Hopefully, pumayag naman sila. Majority of local government units ay pumayag,” he said.
(We requested the LGUs to standardize [the no window hours policy]). Majority of local government units agreed.)
National roads
Garcia said they sought to remove the window hours policy to ease traffic congestion and to address the confusion of motorists on the window hours policy in different cities.
“Ang problema natin volume pagnababawasan ng volume, nababawasan ang traffic natin, at mawawala ang kalituhan. Sinasabi walang ganito, walang ganyan, may nagpost sa website. Kinlaro lang namin para di magkagulo,” Garcia said.
(Our problem is the volume of vehicles. If we can reduce the volume of vehicles on the road, we can also ease traffic congestion. We want to avoid confusion.)
“So ginawa na naming standard na 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. ang coding natin ngayon (So we standardized the number coding scheme from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.),” he added.
Garcia also reiterated that the no “window hours policy” will be implemented on national roads, including the Mabuhay Lane routes.
“Effective immediately yung [no] window [hours] sa national roads, effective today. ‘Yung national roads muna na sakop ng MMDA, huhulihin natin yan,” Garcia said.
(Effective today, there will be “no window hours” on national roads. The MMDA covers the national roads. We will arrest violators.) /ee