MMDA: No need for expanded number coding amid oil price hikes

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Tuesday said there is no need to implement an expanded number coding scheme with fewer vehicles plying the road amid oil price hikes.

"Wala pa pong pangangailangan sa ngayon kasi nabawasan nga po ang bilang ng mga sasakyan. Moderate lang po iyong traffic [situation]," MMDA chairperson Romando Artes said during the Laging Handa briefing.

(We do not see a need for it because there are fewer vehicles on the road. The traffic situation is moderate.)

"We leave it to the next administration to decide if there is a need to expand the number coding scheme," he added.

The Duterte administration ends on June 30.

In April, the MMDA proposed a new number coding scheme targeted to reduce the number of vehicles passing Metro Manila's major roads by 40%.

Artes said Tuesday that while the number of vehicles in EDSA reached 417,000 back in May 5, which breached pre-pandemic level of 405,000, the number quickly decreased after the May 9 polls and amid unabated oil price hike.

"Last June 9, we had a count of 392,000. The other day, it even went down to 390,000 so it was even fewer by 2,000," Artes said.

"Overall, it decreased by 27,000 from the time before elections and it is because of the rising fuel prices," he added.

The number coding scheme, which prevents vehicles from plying the Metro Manila roads depending on the last digit of their plate numbers, is implemented from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday.—AOL, GMA News