Your GCQ Guide To Driving and Commuting In Metro Manila

With the imposition of a general community quarantine (GCQ) in Metro Manila along with an array of social restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), Filipinos are trying to adjust to a new normal that prioritizes public health during the pandemic and likely beyond.

In this guide, I’ve rounded up the government's latest motoring guidelines to get you started, and to ensure your metro commuting is a safe, simple and worry-free experience.


Contents

1. General guidelines
2. Modified number/color coding scheme
- Exemptions
3. Private Vehicles
- List of APORs
4. Public Utility Vehicles
- Guidelines inside terminals
- Cashless payments
- LRT, MRT and PNR
- Buses

- Bus Routes
- Modern jeepneys
- UV Express
- Taxis and TNVS
- Motorcycle taxis
- Tricycles
5. Commuters
- Bike lanes
- Pedestrian crossings
- Bus/boarding stops



General Guidelines

- Mandatory wearing of face masks.
- Social distancing.
- For PUVs, passenger load shall not exceed 50 percent or half of a vehicle’s seating capacity (not including driver and conductor).
- Passengers are advised to take note of their public transportation trips for contact tracing.
- Number coding for public transport vehicles is lifted during GCQ.
- For operators, a special permit to operate under GCQ is required. This is free of charge and can be applied for at the LTFRB.
- Checkpoints and random "stop and check" will remain scattered throughout Metro Manila to keep LGU borders and major thoroughfares in check.


Modified number/color coding scheme

Medical front-liners
The medical frontliners will be exempted from the modified Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP), simply known as modified number coding or color coding, to help provide “ease and convenience to their daily transport,” according to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) General Manager Jose Arturo “Jojo” Garcia.

Under the previous UVVRP, vehicles with plates that end with certain digits are not allowed to ply the roads of Metro Manila on certain days or else risk getting caught and fined by MMDA enforcers.

With the modified scheme, however, coded vehicles may be exempted from the policy if they are carrying more than one passenger, in addition to the driver, depending on the guidelines of the IATF[-MEID] (Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) on allowed passengers per type of vehicles.

Private Vehicles

- Individuals are still not allowed to cross city borders unless they are authorized persons outside residences (APOR). See below a complete MMDA list of APORs.
- Allowed to travel only for accessing essential goods and services (including work if employed).
- Social distancing must be observed in private vehicles (one passenger in front, and two passengers for each row of the vehicle).
- Passengers (or back-rides) for motorcycles will not be allowed with no exemptions.


Complete MMDA list of authorized persons outside residence (APOR)

- Bank employees
- Armored vehicle crew
- Money transfer service employees
- Grocery and convenience store employees
- Public market vendors
- Pharmacists and drug store employees
- Restaurant staff and crew
- Delivery personnel of cargo (two per vehicle)
- Food and medical manufacturing establishment employees
- Telecommunications key officials and employees
- Cable and Internet provider employees
- Water company key officials and employees
- Water delivery and refilling station crew
- Power plant maintenance employees
- Petroleum tanker drivers
- Gasoline attendants
- Coal delivery services
- Garbage collectors
- Emergency responders (Bureau of Fire Protection, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Barangay Health Emergency - Response Team, LGU officials
- Philippine National Police personnel
- Armed Forces of the Philippines personnel
- Philippine Coast Guard personnel
- Bureau of Jail Management and Penology personnel
- National Bureau of Investigation personnel
- Office for Transportation Security personnel
- Bureau of Customs personnel
- Bureau of Immigration personnel
- Philippine Ports Authority personnel
- MMDA personnel
- Company security officers and security guards
- Force multipliers (Barangay officials and tanods)
- All Department of Health officials and staff
- LGU health facility personnel
- Philippine Red Cross vehicles and staff bearing logo and IDs
- World Health Organization country and regional offices core staff
- Doctors and their drivers
- Hospital staff and employees (including janitorial services)
- Medical professionals and other employees
- Private caregivers
- Funeral service employees and immediate family of deceased
- Senators and congressmen with their CoS
- Department secretaries, undersecretaries, and assistant secretaries
- Bureau directors
- Ombudsman and deputy ombudsman
- Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Court of Tax Appeals, and Sandigan Bayan justices
- Regional, Metropolitan, City and Municipal Trial Court judges and prosecutors
- Governors
- Media personalities including Presidential Communications Operations Office and attached agencies (with ID cards issued by PCOO)

Public Utility Vehicles

Guidelines inside terminals
- Mandatory checking of body temperature.
- Establishment of disinfecting facility with alcohol or soap and water at all entrances.
- Social distancing measures shall be observed at all times, even when waiting in line.

Cashless payments
GCash and PayMaya is encouraged to allow PUV operators to offer commuters cashless forms of payment. Grab, however, limits their transactions to just GrabPay and credit or debit cards.





LRT-1, LRT-2, MRT-3 and PNR Trains
The trains will only be allowed to take on up to 20% to 25% of a train’s maximum capacity, so each train set will only be allowed to carry between 100 to 160 passengers at a time. Sticker markers have also been placed to enforce social-distancing measures in queues.

Buses
Aside from the P2P buses, there will be 31 rationalized routes including North EDSA-Fairview, Cubao-Antipolo, Buendia-BGC, and Ayala-Alabang, among others, according to a plan from the Department of Transportation (DOTr). The buses plying these routes will have colored markings with their corresponding route code, as shown in the image below.


Modern Jeepneys
There will be limited operation of PUJs and these will be subject to LTFRB guidelines. I'll post it as soon as they become available.

UV Express
Only two passengers per row are allowed (one passenger in front, and two passengers for each row of the vehicle).

Taxis and TNVS (Grab)
One passenger in front, and two passengers for each row of the vehicle) and sanitary practices.
Multiple bookings in a single trip for TNVS is not allowed.

Motorcycle Taxis (Angkas)
Still prohibited until further notice.

Tricycles
No riding behind the driver.
Only one passenger in side car.

Below are the recommended social distancing measures inside PUVs:



Commuters

The images below are the recommended design approach for the commuting public, the designated bicycle lanes, pedestrian crossings, bus stops/boarding areas to be implemented along Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (Edsa).













Any thoughts about the new GCQ guidelines?
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Images from the DOTr FB Page

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