MANILA, Philippines – Public utility buses will be exempted from Metro Manila’s number coding scheme if more motorists practice carpooling.

In a bid to decongest traffic along EDSA, traffic regulators on Friday, August 24, announced that buses will be exempted from the coding scheme if more motorists participate in the dry run implementation of the driver-only car ban.

“All buses – city or provincial – will be exempted from the number coding scheme if the participation rate in the driver-only car ban reaches at least 50% of the motorists in EDSA,” Metropolitan Manila Development Authority General Manager Jojo Garcia said.

On Friday, the governing body of MMDA, the Metro Manila Council (MMC), said that the dry run implementation of the ban will continue until further notice, as a way to gather data to test the effectivity of the measure.

But Garcia clarified during a media interview that the ban on provincial buses during rush hour remains, even if they become exempted from the number coding scheme.

Based on MMDA figures, an average of 367,738 vehicles ply EDSA daily. Around 60% to 70% of which – or 220,000 to 257,000 – are single-occupancy vehicles.

Meanwhile, daily number of buses around Metro Manila averaged only 32,647 in 2017.

MMDA appealed to the public to practice carpooling to ease congestion in the metropolis.

“We’re not anti-private vehicles. We just want to serve more people by implementing [the driver-only car ban],” Garcia said.

On August 7, the MMC approved the ban to reduce traffic congestion in Metro Manila. 

The supposed full implementation of the measure was on August 23, but it was put on hold after Senate leaders issued a resolution urging traffic regulators to “immediately suspend” the measure.

The ban sought to prohibit single passenger vehicles from 7 am to 10 am, and from 6 pm to 9 pm on weekdays. When fully implemented, a fine of P1,000 will be imposed to violators. – Rappler.com