A la Metro Manila, the Naga City government is set to implement a "number coding" scheme for vehicles passing through Panganiban Avenue starting April 21. Ostensibly intended to address the imminent traffic congestion brought in by the opening of the new SM City mall, the experimental coding scheme follows the restrictions made on vehicles plying EDSA.
Specifically, all vehicles-including public utility jeepneys and tricycles-whose plate numbers end with "1" or "2" are prohibited from using Panganiban Ave. on Mondays. Similarly, vehicles with plates ending with "3" or "4" are barred from passing through the said major thoroughfare on Tuesdays; while on Wednesdays, those with plates ending with "5" and "6". The coding extends throughout the weekdays (Thursdays - "7" and "8"; Fridays - "9" and "0"), while on weekends all plate restrictions are relaxed.
This effort by Naga City is welcome. Many recognize how the said coding scheme will aid in facilitating traffic flow in what has lately been a perennially congested city avenue. Even before the planned SM mall started construction, that is, even during the time the city government's white elephant (the now decrepit, costly, and unfinished city coliseum) was being built, traffic at Panganiban Ave. had been congesting noticeably. With the mall's opening in May and with the proposed coding scheme, we can expect perhaps quite realistically, not an alleviation from inconvenient traffic stuck-ups; but maybe an acceptable pace in traffic flow notwithstanding the immense increase in the volume of vehicles present.
For like in Metro Manila in which this scheme was concocted, the coding of vehicles is ultimately a stop-gap solution. It will not solve the traffic problem; it can only provide temporary respite at best. Like in Metro Manila, a key solution for Naga's emerging traffic woe is to establish some form of cost-effective public transportation system. While an LRT system is obviously precluded as an option for "Metro Naga," the models found in such nearby Asian cities like Macau or Hong Kong, where majority of public transportation are not privately run but are publicly owned and managed, may yet prove to be applicable. Moreover, with constant hikes in fuel prices, an efficient public transport system becomes an attractive alternative even for owners of private vehicles.
In the meantime that an efficient public transport system is still absent, the local government and the populace will have to contend with traffic congestion and its inconveniences. At present, the proposed coding scheme is expected to contribute to easing traffic flow at Panganiban Avenue; for that, we can be grateful.