THE government is extending the ban on private vehicles on Edsa by one hour”•from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.”•to further ease traffic in that artery following the slight improvement in the flow of vehicles there.
That improvement came after the government suspended the so-called window hours in which private vehicles”•depending on the last digit in their plate numbers”•may still traverse Edsa at certain hours even if these are banned there on a particular day.
Those hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. onwards.
The extension came following a meeting of the members of the Metro Manila Council with the Inter-agency Council on Traffic in Pasig City on Monday in connection with the full implementation of the Number Coding Scheme.
The MMC, composed of the 17 mayors in Metro Manila, is the policy-making body of the Metro Manila Development Authority.
“The MMC and the mayors are supportive of the No Window Scheme, and officially they are now including both Alabang-Zapote and Roxas Boulevard,” said MMDA officer-in-charge Thomas Orbos.
He also said at least 15 main roads in the National Capital Region will be added to the areas covered by the revised Number Coding Scheme beginning next week.
Those roads include Rizal Avenue, Claro M. Recto Avenue, Taft Avenue, Del Pan Street, President Quirino Avenue, Araneta Avenue, Marcos Highway, MacArthur Highway, Shaw Boulevard, Ortigas Avenue, Quezon Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue, Magsaysay Boulevard, Aurora Boulevard, A. Bonifacio Avenue and South Luzon Expressway.
The areas covered by the No-Window Hours for the Number Coding Scheme are Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Circumferential Road-5 or C-5 Road, Alabang-Zapote Road, Roxas Boulevard and some roads in Mandaluyong, Makati and Las Piñas.
The MMDA noticed that the travel speed of vehicles along Edsa had increased after it implemented the No Window Scheme in anticipation of the traffic gridlock during the holiday season.
Last week, the shopping mall owners and operators in Metro Manila also agreed to schedule the delivery of goods to their malls late at night until dawn to ease road congestion in the peak buying months.