Zarate: Commuters, motorists at ‘losing end’ in MMDA’s new ‘coding’ scheme

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the Department of Transportation are gearing toward reopening the usual routes of public transportation vehicles. (File photo by JONATHAN VICENTE / INQUIRER.net)

MANILA, Philippines —Motorists and commuters will just be at the “losing end” if the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) pushes through with its proposal for a new “number coding” scheme for vehicles, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said Saturday.

Zarate lamented how new government officials want to experiment on new proposals at the expense of the public’s welfare.

“At the end of the day, ang kawawa na naman ay ating mga riding public, ang ating mga mamamayan dahil parang kapag may bagong nakaupo, mag-e-experimento na naman, gusto niya na namang pag-aralan kung paano ‘yung kanyang naiisip ay maimplementa but at the expense of our people,” he said at the Annabel’s Media Forum.

(At the end of the day, the riding public will just suffer because when a new official assumes post, he wants to experiment again and try to implement what he thinks of, but at the expense of our people.)

Newly-appointed MMDA Chairman Romando Artes earlier presented the agency’s proposed new number coding schemes in a bid to reduce vehicular traffic volume in Metro Manila.

Among the MMDA’s proposals was to ban vehicles having registration plates ending in odd numbers — 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 — from public roads on Mondays and Thursdays from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Meanwhile, vehicles with registration plates ending in even numbers — 2, 4, 6, 8, 0 — will be banned from public roads on Tuesdays and Fridays during the same hours.

All vehicles are allowed to use public roads every Wednesday under this proposal. The MMDA said this scheme may cut down vehicular traffic volume by 50 percent.

Another proposal which the MMDA said could cut down vehicular traffic volume by 40 percent would also ban vehicles from public roads for two weekdays during the same hours. Under this scheme, license plates with the following last digits would be barred on scheduled days:

Monday: plate numbers ending in 1, 2, 3, 4
Tuesday: plate numbers ending in 5, 6, 7, 8
Wednesday: cars with plate numbers ending in 9, 0, 1, 2
Thursday: cars with plate numbers ending in 3, 4, 5, 6
Friday: cars with plate numbers ending in 7, 8, 9, 0

However, Zarate noted that if people will not be allowed to use their cars two times a week, they may just end up buying another car so that they would not be affected by the new number coding scheme.

“With the existing scheme ngayon, ang tingin ko talaga dyan ay ayusin lang nila ito rather than mag-iimplement na naman sila ng bagong iskema na mas lalo pang magpapadagdag doon sa kaguluhan,” he suggested.

(I think they should just fix the existing scheme instead of implementing a new scheme that could just add to the confusion.)

“Introducing another policy, na sa tingin ko naman ay hindi talaga pinag-aralan mabuti bago nila ito in-announce, ay hindi makakatulong sa ating mga mamamayan na siya namang nasa losing end ng ganitong mga patakaran,” he added.

(Introducing a new policy, which I think was not studied properly before it was introduced, will not help the public who will be at the losing end again in these kinds of policies.)

Under the current number coding scheme, plate numbers ending in 1 and 2 are barred from public roads every Monday; 3 and 4 every Tuesday; 5 and 6 every Wednesday; 7 and 8 every Thursday; and 9 and 0 every Friday.

Artes earlier said they are not merely experimenting on new policies but thinking of ways to improve the traffic in Metro Manila.

/MUF