Number Coding Metro Manila: Complete 2026 Guide

Number coding in Metro Manila keeps your car off major roads for one weekday, based on the last digit of your plate number. The MMDA's Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) is enforced from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and again from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Mondays to Fridays. In between, the window hours of 10:01 a.m. to 4:59 p.m. coded vehicles may drive freely in most cities. Makati is the big exception: on its local roads it enforces coding straight through from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. with no window hours at all. Coding is lifted on weekends and on declared holidays.

That is the short version. The details below are where most drivers get caught out.

The coding schedule by plate ending

Your coding day is set by the final digit of your plate:

Monday — plates ending in 1 and 2
Tuesday — plates ending in 3 and 4
Wednesday — plates ending in 5 and 6
Thursday — plates ending in 7 and 8
Friday — plates ending in 9 and 0

There is no Saturday or Sunday coding. The plate-to-day mapping has been stable since the MMDA reimplemented the expanded scheme in August 2022. What varies is the hours, which cities apply them, and how often the whole scheme is suspended for holidays.

What the hours actually mean

The MMDA scheme has two enforcement blocks and one free block:

7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. — coded vehicles are banned from covered roads.
10:01 a.m. to 4:59 p.m. — window hours. Coded vehicles may travel.
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. — coded vehicles are banned again.
After 8:00 p.m. — no restriction until the next coding day.

Window hours are the part people misremember. They are not a grace period at the edges of rush hour; they are a genuine mid-day opening, and they exist only where the city adopts the MMDA scheme as-is. Where a city runs its own ordinance, Makati being the clearest case where the window may be shorter or absent entirely.

Coding applies to the road, not to your home city

Enforcement follows the road you are on, not where you live or where your car is registered. Driving into a city that runs a stricter ordinance means you are subject to that city's rules for that stretch of road, even if your own city would have let you through on window hours. Plan by route, not by origin.

Makati is the exception that catches everyone

Makati City enforces number coding on its local roads from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with no window hours. That covers the whole business day, including the lunch period other cities leave open. If your destination is inside the Makati CBD and your plate is coded, there is no mid-day gap on those streets.

One important carve-out: the EDSA stretch through Makati is not under the 7-to-7 rule. The MMDA's own advisory states that EDSA-Makati follows the expanded number coding guidelines of 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and does use window hours. So EDSA remains passable at mid-day on your coding day; turning off it into Makati's inner roads does not.

Makati also runs its own exemption list rather than simply mirroring the MMDA's. Its accommodation for senior citizens holding a Makati Blu Card is a local policy, not an MMDA one, and it is narrow: the card holder must be a Makati resident and must actually be in the vehicle, as driver or passenger. An exemption granted by one city does not travel with you into the next.

The EMBO barangays now follow Taguig

Ten former Makati barangays, the EMBO barangays, including Comembo, Pembo, Cembo and Rizal, were transferred to Taguig City. Taguig confirmed that its road traffic regulations, including its no-number-coding policy, cover those barangays. An address that sat under Makati's 12-hour scheme a few years ago may now be governed by Taguig's rules instead.

Do not read that as "no coding anywhere in Taguig", though. National roads running through the city. C-5, the East Service Road, Manuel L. Quezon Avenue, still fall under MMDA enforcement. The exemption is about the local street network, not about every road you might use to get there.

Who is exempt from number coding

The MMDA's exemption list covers vehicle types and functions rather than individual hardship cases. Exempt vehicles include:

Motorcycles
Public utility vehicles (PUVs)
Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS) units
Ambulances and fire trucks
Garbage trucks
Marked government vehicles and marked media vehicles

In March 2026, the Metro Manila Council added an exemption for trucks carrying fuel and essential goods, adopted in response to pressure on fuel supply and prices. It was announced without a stated end date, so treat it as current policy rather than permanent law and check before relying on it.

A caution on motorcycles: they are exempt under the MMDA scheme, but cities running their own ordinances set their own lists. If you ride into Makati regularly, confirm the current Makati rule rather than assuming the MMDA exemption carries over.

Electric and hybrid vehicles

Electric vehicles get their exemption from law rather than from an MMDA circular. Republic Act No. 11697, the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA), grants EV users "exemption from the mandatory unified vehicular volume reduction program, number-coding scheme, or other similar schemes" for eight years from the law's effectivity. The Act lapsed into law on 15 April 2022, which puts the exemption on the books into 2030.

In practice, battery electric vehicles, full hybrids and plug-in hybrids are treated as outside the UVVRP. Mild hybrids are the grey area. The Department of Energy has taken the position that EV types not named in the implementing rules are not covered by the coding exemption, and mild hybrids are not named. If you drive a mild hybrid, do not assume you are exempt.

Enforcement of the EV exemption depends on the LTO certifying which vehicles qualify, EVIDA provides for a special plate type issued by the LTO. So keep your registration documents accessible. An electric badge on the tailgate is not by itself a defense to an enforcer who does not recognize the model.

Who is no longer exempt

Senior citizens and persons with disabilities lost their MMDA-level coding exemption in August 2022, and it has not been restored since; a 2024 proposal to revisit the senior citizen exemption did not change the rule. This is one of the most persistent pieces of outdated advice still circulating: a senior citizen ID does not exempt your vehicle from the MMDA scheme.

Individual cities may still grant their own concessions. Makati's Blu Card being the clearest example; but those apply only within the issuing city. Because accommodations for senior and PWD drivers do get proposed periodically, check the MMDA's current advisories before relying on one.

What happens if you get caught

The MMDA penalty for a UVVRP violation is ₱300, though it is commonly reported as a range of ₱300 to ₱500 depending on where you are apprehended, because local government units enforce their own ordinances on their own roads. The amount on your ticket depends on who issued it and where.

Motoring guides consistently report that the fine must be settled within seven days, and that unpaid violations are flagged against your records at the LTO, where they can hold up a licence or vehicle registration renewal. That turns a ₱300 annoyance into a wasted morning at a licensing centre. Payment channels have included Landbank, SM Bills Payment, Bayad Center and e-wallets such as GCash and Maya can confirm the current list on your ticket or with the MMDA, since these change.

When coding is suspended

Number coding is automatically lifted on weekends and on official and special non-working holidays. Beyond that, the MMDA issues case-by-case suspensions. And, just as often, announcements that coding is not suspended on a given day, which is a good indication of how frequently drivers assume otherwise.

In 2026 alone, coding was lifted for Eid'l Fitr in March, Labour Day in May, Eid'l Adha in May and Independence Day in June. But it was expressly not lifted for the SONA in July. The pattern is that you cannot guess.

Two habits will save you money:

Check the MMDA's official social media accounts the night before a holiday-adjacent workday rather than relying on a group chat.
Treat "there is no coding today" claims from other drivers as unverified until you see the advisory yourself.

What about the EDSA odd-even scheme?

An odd-even restriction on EDSA was announced in 2025 alongside the EDSA rehabilitation programme, and then scrapped on 1 June 2025 when the rehabilitation itself was suspended. It is not in force. If the rehabilitation restarts, expect the proposal to return. But for now, EDSA follows the ordinary coding scheme.

How to plan around your coding day

Build your fixed appointments around it. Preventive maintenance, inspections, insurance renewals and anything else with a flexible date belong on your coding day only if the shop is outside coding hours or outside a strict city.
Use window hours deliberately. A 10:30 a.m. drop-off and a 4:00 p.m. pickup are fully legal in MMDA-scheme cities. That is a six-hour working window most people leave unused.
Park rather than circle. If your day genuinely requires being in a coded area at 7:30 a.m., arriving before the ban starts and parking until window hours is legal; being on the road at 7:30 a.m. is not.
Check the destination city, not your own. Especially for anything in the Makati CBD.
Keep one non-coding day free for errands. Batching registration, servicing and inspection into a single non-coded day is far cheaper than paying to be somewhere you should not be.

Frequently asked questions

Is there number coding on holidays?

No. The scheme is automatically lifted on official and special non-working holidays, as well as on weekends. The MMDA announces these suspensions, and also announces when a day people expect to be free is in fact still a coding day.

Do window hours exist everywhere in Metro Manila?

No. Window hours of 10:01 a.m. to 4:59 p.m. apply where the city follows the MMDA scheme. Makati enforces 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on its local roads with no window hours, although the EDSA stretch through Makati keeps the standard scheme and its window hours. Cities may adopt their own ordinances, so confirm with the LGU covering your route before relying on a mid-day trip.

Are motorcycles covered by number coding?

Motorcycles are on the MMDA's exempt list. Cities operating their own ordinances set their own exemptions, so check locally if your route goes through one.

Does my senior citizen ID exempt me from coding?

Not under the MMDA scheme, that exemption was removed in August 2022. Some cities operate their own programs, such as Makati's Blu Card, but these apply only within the issuing city.

Are hybrids exempt from coding?

Full hybrids and plug-in hybrids are treated as exempt under EVIDA, along with battery electric vehicles. Mild hybrids are not clearly covered; the Department of Energy has said EV types not named in the implementing rules fall outside the exemption.

Plan your coding day around your car's paperwork

Coding days are the cheapest days to deal with everything your car needs. The PMS you keep postponing, the inspection before registration, the shop visit you can only make mid-week. Garaje helps you find parking, car services and EV charging near you, so you can line up that one free morning instead of losing a Saturday to it.

Number Coding in Metro Manila: The Complete 2026 Guide