Earlier today, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) once again managed to set the Internet ablaze when it announced that it will be rolling out a new traffic scheme to try to solve the National Capital Region’s ever-worsening traffic problem.
Dubbed Windows 2.0, the Enhanced Vehicular Volume Reduction Program, also known as the Enhanced Odd-Even Scheme is a spin-off of the existing odd-even scheme currently being implemented. This one, however, seeks to further lessen the number of vehicles plying EDSA at any given time of day.
According to the MMDA, EDSA was designed to take in approximately 1,310 vehicles per lane. At present, however, the 10-lane EDSA (with 5 lanes on each of the Northbound and Southbound portions of the main thoroughfare) has gone beyond this threshold, taking in anywhere from 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles per lane. The study goes on to say that a large chunk of these vehicles are private cars—totaling around 76 percent.
The solution, MMDA says, is to restrict the number of private vehicles, including Transport Network Vehicular Services, such as Grab and Uber. This is where Windows 2.0 will come in.
Under the new scheme, private vehicles can only pass EDSA at certain times of the day, depending on their license plate or conduction number ending. For instance, vehicles with even number endings (2, 4, 6, 8, and 0) can only pass EDSA at three specified times of the day for two hours each period. These are 7-9 AM, 1-3 PM, and 5-7 PM. Vehicles with odd number endings (1, 3, 5, 7, and 9), meanwhile, can only ply EDSA from 9-11 AM, 3-5 PM, and 7-9 PM. A window period from 11 AM to 1 PM will be given to all motorists wherein they can freely pass EDSA, regardless of their plate ending.
The new traffic scheme, the MMDA reiterates, is not meant to replace the existing Odd-Even program. Rather, it is meant to complement it n the hopes of further freeing up the chaos that is Metro Manila traffic.
Windows 2.0 will undergo a trial run that is slated from March 15 to June 15, 2017. It will be enforced from Magallanes in Makati all the way to North Avenue in Quezon City.
