‘Odd-even’ revival among options in 3-day traffic meet

TRANSPORTATION officials and agencies making up the Interagency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) will gather for a three-day meet starting Wednesday to craft programs to ease the capital’s deteriorating traffic condition, including the possible revival of the odd-even scheme.

Supt. Beth Velasquez, spokesperson of the Philippine National Police – Highway Patrol Group, said the I-ACT meet to be held at the National Center for Transportation Studies at the University of the Philippines is expected to come out with solutions to address the huge volume of vehicles plying major thoroughfares.

The council might consider the odd-even scheme as a vehicle volume reduction measure, Velasquez said on the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) weekly radio program on Sunday.

“This will be one of the options that can be recommended to the transportation secretary,” she said.

When introduced in the 1990s, the odd-even scheme barred from the streets private vehicles with license plates ending in odd numbers from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Those ending in even numbers were prohibited during the same hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Its modified version was implemented in 1996 and 1997, before it was replaced the following year by the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program. More commonly known as number coding, the UVVRP which remains in effect.

When Pasig City recently implemented a localized odd-even scheme, its traffic officials claimed success in drastically reducing congestion on six busy streets.

MMDA general manager Tim Orbos earlier said he was open to the return of the odd-even scheme introduced by his brother, then Transportation Secretary Oscar Orbos, but he noted that a review is needed since the capital’s traffic situation has gotten worse.

MMDA data showed that vehicle volume on Edsa is already well above its carrying capacity of 6,000 vehicles per hour per direction. In July, the agency recorded 7,500 vehicles plying the highway per hour per direction.

Velasquez noted that stalled cars or those figuring in accidents are also a major cause of congestion. The meeting will thus look into how traffic investigation can be fast-tracked so as not to cause bottlenecks, she said.