Number Coding Today: Manila Hours and Window (2026)

The clock is exact. A coded car on EDSA at 7:02 AM gets a ticket; the same car at 10:01 AM does not.

The two blocks apply on the national roads the MMDA covers: EDSA, C-5, Commonwealth, Roxas Boulevard and the rest. City streets follow the city's own ordinance, which in most of Metro Manila copies the MMDA hours.

Morning coding

7:00 to 10:00 AM, Monday to Friday, MMDA roads

Window hours

10:01 AM to 4:59 PM: a coded car may drive

Evening coding

5:00 to 8:00 PM, Monday to Friday, MMDA roads

Overnight

8:01 PM to 6:59 AM: no coding

Makati streets

7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, no window, motorcycles included

Weekends, holidays

No coding

Toll expressways

No coding; it resumes on the exit ramp

A coded car may use MMDA roads freely in the window. The overnight gap, 8:01 PM to 6:59 AM, works the same way.

Here is one coded day worked through: a plate ending in 5, on a Wednesday, driving EDSA. Wednesday codes 5 and 6, and the MMDA fine is ₱300.

Choose the 10:01 AM start if your whole route is on MMDA roads, because the window gives you almost seven hours. If any leg enters Makati, drive that leg before 7:00 AM or after 7:00 PM, or take the Skyway over it.

On EDSA at 9:40 AM

Inside the morning block: ₱300 MMDA ticket

On EDSA at 10:01 AM

Inside the window: no ticket

On EDSA at 5:05 PM

Inside the evening block: ₱300 MMDA ticket

Ayala Avenue at 3:00 PM

Inside Makati's 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM block: ₱1,000 first offence

On EDSA at 8:01 PM

Overnight gap: no ticket

Two plate endings are coded on each weekday. The MMDA runs the scheme as the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program under MMDA Regulation No. 96-005, as amended (MMDA number coding FAQ).

The rule follows the plate, not the driver or the city of registration. A car from Laguna with a plate ending in 5 is coded in Metro Manila every Wednesday.

1. MondayPlates ending in 1 and 2
2. TuesdayPlates ending in 3 and 4
3. WednesdayPlates ending in 5 and 6
4. ThursdayPlates ending in 7 and 8
5. FridayPlates ending in 9 and 0

Yes on any weekday that is not a holiday. Run the three checks below in order. If all three say yes, your car is coded right now.

Guess wrong and the ticket is ₱300 from the MMDA, or ₱1,000 for a first offence on a Makati street.

1. Is today a weekday and not a holiday?Saturday, Sunday and regular or special non-working holidays have no coding. The card at the top counts weekdays only, so check the date against the 2026 holiday calendar.
2. Does your last digit match today?The card at the top shows today's two digits, and the plate checker answers for your plate in one tap. The full week is in the schedule.
3. Is the clock inside a coded block?Read the time against the hours table; Makati streets have their own longer block. Inside a block, drive in the window or price a toll-road route on the toll calculator.

Makati enforces its own ordinance on every road inside the city. Ayala Avenue, Gil Puyat (Buendia), Chino Roces and the Makati stretch of EDSA all count.

The plate schedule is the same as the MMDA's, so a plate ending in 1 or 2 is coded all day Monday in Makati. Motorcycles are included in Makati, which is not the case under the MMDA scheme.

The elevated Skyway above Makati is a national toll road and is outside the ordinance. The ramps that drop you onto Makati streets are inside it. The fine climbs within a year:

No on the toll roads, yes on EDSA. Skyway, SLEX, NLEX, NAIAX, CAVITEX, CALAX, SCTEX, TPLEX, MCX and STAR Tollway are toll roads under the Toll Regulatory Board, outside the MMDA scheme. The Skyway operator's own advisory says it plainly: there is no number coding on the Skyway.

EDSA, C-5, Commonwealth and the other national roads are where the scheme lives. Coding starts again the moment you leave a toll road onto them.

The catch is the ramp. Leaving SLEX at Magallanes at 5:15 PM on a Wednesday puts a plate ending in 5 or 6 onto Makati streets during Makati's block. Entering NLEX at Balintawak at 7:30 AM on a Monday means a coded 1 or 2 plate drove EDSA or A. Bonifacio to get there. Plan the first and last kilometre, not just the toll road.

Pick your Skyway Stage 3 approach by the clock. Buendia to Balintawak is ₱264 for a class 1 car on the TRB matrix of February 2026, and the Buendia end sits in Makati. On your coding day from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, reach it on the elevated Skyway from SLEX, not on Makati streets.

The amount depends on who wrote the ticket: the MMDA on a national road, or the city on a city street.

The enforcer issues a ticket on the spot with the violation, the time, the place and the enforcer's name. You pay an MMDA ticket at MMDA offices or its accredited payment channels, and a city ticket at that city's treasurer. Pay within the period printed on the ticket; an unpaid ticket surfaces when you renew the LTO registration.

Keep the receipt. If the same plate is ticketed again inside a year in Makati, the receipt is what shows it is a second offence and not a third.

1. Read the ticketIt names the issuer (MMDA or a city), the violation and the amount. That decides where you pay.
2. Pay at the issuerMMDA tickets at MMDA offices or its accredited channels; city tickets at the city treasurer. Keep the official receipt.
3. Clear it before LTO renewalUnpaid tickets are flagged when the vehicle registration is renewed.

The MMDA suspends coding automatically on regular and special non-working holidays. In 2026 that has included Eid'l Fitr on 20 March, Holy Week from 1 to 3 April and Labor Day. It also covered Eid'l Adha on 27 May, Independence Day and National Heroes Day on 31 August. The Christmas run was 23 to 25 December 2025 and 29 December to 2 January 2026.

Weather suspensions are separate. When a typhoon or flooding closes roads, the MMDA announces the suspension the same morning, sometimes mid-morning, on its Facebook and X accounts and through the news wires.

On a holiday this list and the 2026 holiday calendar win over the card at the top. For a weather day, check the MMDA's accounts before you leave; the suspension is not in force until they post it.

1. Holiday: assume suspendedRegular and special non-working holidays suspend coding without a separate announcement.
2. Weather: wait for the postThe MMDA posts weather suspensions on Facebook and X, usually before 7:00 AM but sometimes later in the morning.
3. Long weekend: expect volumeSuspension days are heavier on EDSA and the expressway entries, not lighter.

The MMDA enforces coding on national roads in every Metro Manila city, so EDSA is coded in Pasay the same way it is coded in Quezon City. What changes from city to city is the ordinance for city streets.

A few cities do not enforce coding on their own streets at all. That never lifts the MMDA rule on the national roads that run through them.

Before you rely on a "no coding in my city" claim, check two things. Is the road you are on a national road? And what did the city traffic office publish this year?

EDSA, C-5 (C5), Commonwealth

MMDA hours in every city: 7:00 to 10:00 AM, 5:00 to 8:00 PM

National roads in Quezon City (QC), Pasig, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa (Alabang), Taguig, Marikina, Caloocan, Valenzuela

MMDA hours, window 10:01 AM to 4:59 PM

Roxas Boulevard

MMDA hours: national road, window 10:01 AM to 4:59 PM

Makati streets

7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, no window; ₱1,000 first offence

Other city streets

City ordinance; most copy the MMDA hours

Electric vehicles, full hybrids and plug-in hybrids are exempt under the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act, RA 11697, Section 25(a)(2), approved 15 April 2022. Section 4 counts hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars as EVs. The exemption runs for eight years from the law's effectivity in 2022, and the MMDA told its enforcers not to ticket them. Mild hybrids are not covered; the Department of Energy said so in 2025.

The MMDA scheme also leaves out public utility vehicles, motorcycles (MMDA Memorandum Circular No. 96-005B, 1998), government vehicles, fire trucks, ambulances, garbage trucks, fuel trucks, media vehicles and trucks carrying essential or perishable goods. The MMDA's own list adds three more: transport network vehicles (TNVS) such as Grab cars, tricycles, and medical doctors (MMDA, February 2025).

Two things to know before you count on an exemption. It is granted by vehicle type or by an approved pass, never by plate colour. And ad hoc exemptions exist: in August 2026 the MMDA exempted bar examinees for the exam dates.

Shopping for an exempt car? Every full hybrid and plug-in hybrid on sale is on our hybrid cars list, and battery EVs are on the electric cars list.

1. Check the vehicle type firstEVs, full hybrids and plug-in hybrids need no pass; the LTO registration class is the proof. Mild hybrids are not exempt.
2. TNVS cars are exempt as TNVSGrab and other app-based ride-hailing cars are on the MMDA's exempt list as transport network vehicles. A privately registered car outside TNVS is not.
3. Display any pass you are givenWhen the MMDA grants a pass, as it did for bar examinees in August 2026, it goes on the windshield. Without it, an enforcer on EDSA has no way to know you qualify.