Number coding for PUVs lifted Monday due to strike

AN LTO ENFORCER flags down a pickup without a license plate on Edsa in Cubao, Quezon City, on the first day of the implementation of the agency’s “no plate, no travel” policy. Violators face up to P10,000 in fines on top of the impounding of their vehicles. LEO M. SABANGAN II

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has suspended the number-coding scheme for public utility vehicles (PUVs) for Monday, Feb. 27, due to the planned nationwide transport strike of jeepney operators.

“Due to the scheduled transport strike tomorrow, Feb. 27, the number coding scheme is lifted for PUVs ONLY,” the MMDA said in an advisory.

Transport groups PISTON, STOP and GO Coalition, and No To Jeepney Phase Out Coalition will hold another demonstration in Metro Manila and other cities nationwide on Monday in protest against the government’s jeepney modernization program.

The same groups staged a similar strike earlier this month, which stranded passengers and forced suspension of classes.

READ: Transport strike forces class suspensions Monday

Under the number coding scheme or the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program, vehicles with license plates ending in 1 and 2 are banned on the road on Monday; 3 and 4 every Tuesday; 5 and 6 on Wednesday; 7 and 8 on Thursday; and 9 and 0 on Friday. –Yuji Vincent Gonzales, JE/rga