MMDA told to encourage car pooling

The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) has asked the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to exempt cars with three or more passengers from the number coding scheme in order to encourage car pooling.

“It is more practical to car pool,” NCC chairman Cesar Bautista said in an interview.

According to Bautista, it can help ease traffic as well as make it more convenient for commuters to get to their place of work. He said neighbors who work in the same area can arrange to go to work together and share the cost of gasoline.

This is the second time a group has asked the MMDA to rethink its number coding scheme since fuel prices started increasing every week.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) earlier called on the government to remove the number coding scheme now that high oil prices have eased the traffic situation in the country.

“Because of high oil prices, people have started taking public transportation and traffic has been reduced considerably,” PCCI chairman Sergio Ortiz Luis said in an interview. “It was supposed to be a temporary measure because the government could not think of other ways to ease traffic but now I don’t see the need any more.”

Data from MMDA showed that the number of cars used in Metro Manila went down by 10 percent in June compared to the previous month.

“If we have to see a positive in the rising prices of oil, then maybe it’s the decrease in travel time for motorists,” Ortiz Luis said.

Since January, diesel and gasoline prices increased by P16 per liter. Oil companies said they still need to recover P8 to P10 per liter, even as world crude prices have gone down. The continued weakening of the peso against the dollar has likewise affected the price of oil.

Consumer and Oil Price Watch chairman Raul Concepcion said diesel prices could even reach P70 by the end of August.