‘Coding’ to include buses – Bayani

Starting Monday, the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP), which is now known as the "number-coding" scheme, will include all public utility buses.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando made the announcement a day after discussing the status of the experimental lifting of the UVVRP with Metro Manila mayors.

Initially, Fernando said only passenger jeepneys would be covered by the re-imposition of coding on Monday but he later expanded this to cover all public utility vehicles, except tricycles.

MMDA executive director for traffic Angelito Vergel de Dios said the decision to include all PUVs was reached after several consultations with various transport groups.

Prior to Fernando’s announcement, buses were exempted from coding after the previous MMDA administrations gave in to the demands of bus operators.

However, Fernando decided to re-impose the scheme on the buses after discovering that most of them are operating with very few passengers on board. The huge volume of buses on the road causes traffic as they linger at bus stops waiting for passengers.

In yesterday’s meeting with jeepney and taxi operators, only one of the jeepney routes complained about the reimposition of the scheme.

On the part of the bus operators, the initial reaction was to seek a fare hike.

The bus operators previously agreed to defer a petition for a P1 hike until the price of diesel fuel reaches P15.50 per liter.

However, the bus operators indicated that the MMDA’s decision will force them to break the agreement with the government because of the impact the UVVRP would have on their operations.

New name, same scheme

The UVVRP, long been known by the public as the color coding scheme is now known as the number coding scheme.

Fernando pointed out that "color coding" is a misnomer.

First of all there are no colors involved in the scheme but simply numbers, specifically the last digit of the license plate.

The scheme was first introduced in May 1996.

Two months after the implementation of the scheme the public utility bus operators complained about the impact on their operations which prompted the MMDA to issue color-coded stickers to 90 percent of the total registered buses.