3-digit number coding nixed

Expect tempers to rise as the holiday season draws near with traffic congestion expected to worsen in the coming days. A solution to the traffic problem, the three-digit number coding, has been disapproved by Metro mayors. —RICHARD A. REYES

Metro Manila mayors on Thursday thumbed down the three-digit coding scheme proposed by a lawmaker to ease traffic congestion during the holidays.

“The Metro Manila Council (MMC) did not approve the three-digit number coding. It needs further study but definitely not for this Christmas season,” Tim Orbos, officer in charge of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority,  told reporters.

Quezon Rep. and House  Minority Leader Danilo Suarez earlier asked the Department of Transportation to implement a weeklong number coding scheme covering three digits on weekdays and two digits on weekends.

30-percent reduction

Suarez said this measure would reduce the number of vehicles in the streets by 30 to 40 percent.

The current number coding scheme or the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program covers two digits (the last number of the license plate) only on  weekdays—1 and 2 on Mondays, 3 and 4 on Tuesdays, 5 and 6 on Wednesdays, 7 and 8 on Thursdays, and 9 and 0 on Fridays.

Under the expanded, no-window coding hours, vehicles with plate numbers ending in those digits are banned on national roads from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.