By Jhon Aldrin Casinas
Pasig City is procuring about P1-million worth of bicycle racks as part of the city’s move to promote the use of two-wheeled vehicles and other alternative modes of transportation under the “new normal” in commuting.
Cyclists stroll along Roxas Blvd on Sunday as bicycles becomes one of the essential mode of transportation amid COVID-19. (Jansen Romero / MANILA BULLETIN)
This was disclosed by Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto on Sunday (June 7), who said that setting up bike racks is “more cost efficient” than constructing more parking spaces for cars.
“Sa City Hall at sa mga public places namin, meron na kaming ongoing procurement ng 60 na bike racks. So, mga isang milyon ang gagastusin natin dito (At City Hall and in our public places we have an ongoing procurement of 60 bike racks. So we're going to spend about P1 million on this),” Sotto said over Teleradyo.
“Put it in perspective, this is much more cost-efficient than, let's say, building more parking spaces again for cars,” he added.
The mayor earlier said that each bike rack costs about P10,000 to P20,000 each, adding that they are cheaper than the cost of maintaining parking spaces.
Aside from this, Sotto said the local government is drafting an ordinance that will require establishments to provide decent parking spaces for bicycles.
He has also previously said that the city government will be setting up “high-priority bicycle corridors” along select roads in Pasig.
Based on the map he shared, bicycle lanes will be set up along Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Avenue, West Bank Road, the entire stretch of C. Raymundo Avenue, A. Mabini Street, Dr. Sixto Antonio Avenue Extension, F. Manalo Street, and along Caruncho Avenue.
According to Sotto, the quarantine has proven that bike riding is possible here in the country.
“Nakita natin ngayong panahon ng community quarantine, tumaas talaga ang demand para sa mga bisikleta dahil nga limitado ang pampublikong transportation natin (We have seen that during the period of community quarantine, the demand for bicycles has increased significantly since our public transportation is limited),” he said.
“Napatunayan din natin na pweding-pwede ang pagbibisikleta pati 'yung
bike-to-work dito sa Pilipinas (We have also proven that cycling and bike-to-work is possible here in the Philippines),” he added.
In the early days of the Luzon lockdown, the Pasig City government declared biking an essential form of transportation. The local government set up pop-up bike lanes by placing traffic cones and barriers along the outermost lane of select streets in the city.