Vehicle tagging scheme for city buses to take effect on Monday

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will start enforcing the vehicle tagging scheme on city buses on Monday, Aug. 15.

However, violators will not be fined during the first week (Aug. 15 to 20) of the program’s implementation.

“On the first week, we will only give [a] warning to the city bus drivers and conductors but after that, we will be very strict [in] the enforcement of this resolution.  Any city bus caught violating the scheme shall be meted [out] appropriate sanctions,” MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino said Thursday.

First-time violators will be fined P500 while for the second offense, Tolentino said the MMDA would recommend the cancellation or suspension of the bus firm’s franchise to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

The Metro Manila Council—the MMDA’s policy-making body composed of the 17 mayors in the metropolis—approved the scheme in February, a re-implementation of a previous resolution authorizing the agency to implement vehicle tagging on all registered and franchised public utility vehicles (PUVs) plying major and secondary roads in Metro Manila.

By October, the MMDA intends to expand the tagging program to include other PUVs such as provincial buses, AUVs, school shuttle service, taxis and cargo trucks.

The vehicle tagging scheme aims to track down “colorum” and out-of-line PUVs and improve the agency’s traffic monitoring and surveillance operations.

It is also expected to facilitate easy tracking and identification of traffic violators because the license plates of the PUVs will be painted prominently on the roof of the vehicles, making it easy for the MMDA’s closed circuit television cameras to identify them.