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The city of Calbayog is growing by leaps and bounds. There is a lot of construction on going and more construction is planned. Most of this construction is in the downtown area (Calbayog Proper). More buildings means less space for people, but with a growing city comes more people. More people along with all the traffic, especially downtown, makes a lot of congestion. The city is doing something about it.
In an effort to reduce the traffic and hopefully vehicle accidents, the city has begun using the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP), commonly called number coding or color coding. It is a road space rationing program in the Philippines that aims to reduce traffic congestion, in particular during peak hours, by restricting the types of vehicles that can use major public roads. It is based on the final digit of the vehicle’s license plate. It is already in effect here in Calbayog, but not fully implemented yet. It is not fully implemented yet because all of the color coded stickers have not arrived. Until it is ‘fully’ implemented, the drivers will be able to drive everyday. The stickers will be placed on the tricycles and that will indicate what day of the week that those tricycles are not allowed to work. Also, from what I understand, they are not even allowed to use the tricycles on that day, even for private use. The stickers are in addition to the license plates and are easier to see rather than trying to decipher each and every license plate. Some of those license plates get pretty dirty and hard to read. The stickers are just an additional means to identify the tricycles. It seems that most of the trike drivers are happy about this new system because less competition means more money for them. In fact some of them probably believe that it is long overdue.
To the best of my knowledge this will be in effect for all day, not like in Manila where it is in effect only from 7 am to 7 pm. I also do not know yet if this is limited to only certain locations. It might be for the downtown area only because that is really the traffic they are trying to limit. In Manila motorcycles are exempted, but I’m not sure if they are exempted here or not. As far as I know at this time, it is only for the vehicles that pick up passengers. The drivers were required to buy uniforms from the city. They bought 6 sets, 3 different colors. They are to alternate colors for everyday. Here is the projected schedule for the uniforms. Monday & Thursday will be Yellow. Tuesday & Friday will be Green. Wednesday & Saturday will be Violet. On Sunday no uniforms will be required. Sundays will be just like it is now, except there will be some drivers that are not allowed to work on Sundays anymore.
Here in our complex, Titing will be off on Tuesdays. He is happy with being off on Tuesdays and happy to be allowed to work on the weekends. Nowadays he mostly just hangs around here at the house waiting on people exiting the Ciriaco. Maybe after this program is fully in effect he will be waiting in other areas just like the other drivers do now. Of course being able to wait at your own house is nice, but if you want to make more money then you need to be where there are more passengers.
You can read more about the UVVRP at this link: Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program.
Salamat, Y’all
Since the implementation of this program, license plate theft has skyrocketed. Good Plan!