Good news to the biking community!
The Senate has approved on third and final reading the measure that seeks to provide a network of safe pathways dedicated for use of people who prefer to walk, ride bicycles or other non-motorized vehicles to work or go to other regular destinations.
Senate Bill No. 1582, or the proposed Safe Pathways Act was approved with 23 votes, no negative vote, and no abstention.
“This is good news to the biking community which has grown significantly during this time of a COVID (pandemic). More people are now using a bicycle to work and in their daily travels,” said Senator Pia Cayetano, principal author of the bill.
“It is important that there is a network of bicycle lanes to ensure continuity through various localities, and the safety of bikers,” said Cayetano, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, Innovation and Futures Thinking.
A cyclist herself, Cayetano said the bill would also promote multiple health benefits and help reduce carbon emissions.
Under the bill, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) would be tasked to coordinate with local government units (LGUs) in creating “safe pathways” or lanes connected to crucial areas such as workplaces, medical facilities or groceries, schools, banks and other similar places.
Once passed into law, the government will mandate public places, government offices, schools, places of work and other commercial establishments like malls, banks and hospitals to allocate parking spaces for bikes and other non-motorized vehicles.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, who voted for the measure, said that more than providing safe ways for cyclists, the bill sets the pathway for the future, “when travel’s accepted definition is to move people and not just cars.”
“After all, in road use, we assign rights, not to pistons, but to persons…this is also a way forward for the biggest sector in the country—the learning and teaching class—some 30 million of them, from preschoolers in daycares, to PhD candidates in colleges,” Recto said.
Other senators who co-authored the bill are Senators Francis Tolentino, Manny Pacquiao, Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, Joel Villanueva, Grace Poe, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. Richard Gordon, Cynthia Villar, Christopher “Bong” Go, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon.