‘6-1 N 1-8’

As we can see from the present traffic situation, the present coding scheme and its known combinations and variations have not been really effective.

I’m sure that as commuter or motorist, you must have gone through a traffic “nightmare” not only once but several times. And accounts about vehicles stuck  in traffic for hours are most likely very familiar to you at this time.

It’s about time to implement the “6-1 N 1-8” coding scheme.

This means that from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, all private vehicles with plate numbers ending with odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7 and 9) would be banned from Edsa, Ortigas Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue, Roxas Boulevard, C-5 and other major thoroughfares in Metro Manila. And from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, all vehicles with plate numbers ending with even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8 and 0) would be banned from those major roads.

I’m sure this will greatly reduce workday and Saturday traffic. This scheme guarantees that 50 percent of the private vehicles in Metro Manila will not be on major thoroughfares between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Additional advantage: private car owners will have to sleep early to avoid the ban. Sleeping early is good for the health. This is a simple analysis: If cars exit a parking lot all at the same time, they will definitely create a traffic bottleneck.

ROGELIO “WARAY” EVASCO, atty_waray@yahoo.com