The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is considering the re-imposition of the number-coding scheme on public utility buses (PUBs) in a bid to further lessen traffic volume in major thoroughfares.

MMDA Chairman Oscar Inocentes said lifting the exemption of the PUBs in the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) seems to be a feasible idea given the completion of mass rail transport system in Metro Manila, such as the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) loop.

“We have been noticing that there are fewer and fewer passengers patronizing buses. There are simply too much of them running on the roads empty. They only add up to congestion,” the MMDA chief said during a meeting with traffic district commanders.

Inocentes said the agency is working to come up with a compromise while noting that solving the traffic problem is “everyone’s responsibility.”

The UVVRP, he pointed out, will even help bus companies reduce its expenses on fuel and vehicle maintenance by reducing the number of buses they operate per day. There are approximately 4,000 PUBs plying EDSA and other major thoroughfares daily.

Inocentes said the inclusion of PUBs in the implementation of UVVRP will complement the MMDA’s Organized Bus Route (OBR) program, which seeks to limit buses on EDSA through scheduled fielding of buses from common terminals.

OBR Chief Antonio Pagulayan Jr. stressed that reducing the number of buses a day by at least 20 percent will mean much in easing traffic on major roads.

“Statistically speaking, that would be a big help. We only need to cut down the number of buses by at least 20 percent a day and we will have a noticeable improvement in traffic condition,” he explained.

PUBs were covered by UVVRP until 2004 when then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, upon the strong lobbying of the bus operators, ordered the suspension of the traffic scheme for passenger buses.