It is high time motorcycles are legalized as a safe and convenient mode of public transportation in the Philippines, Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday, May 23, said.
Presiding over a hearing of the Senate committee on public services as its chairwoman, Poe said the results of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) pilot study on the viability of motorcycle taxis which started in 2019 could be used as a basis for passing a law.
“After more than four years of continuous studies by the technical working group (TWG), it now appears, without a doubt, that commuters are overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing motorcycles taxis,” Poe said.
The TWG survey reports 96 percent of motorcycle taxi passengers believed that government should allow motorcycle taxis, she explained.
The study also showed that commuters favor motorcycle taxis’ affordability and quicker conveyance time in the clogged streets of urban centers where motorcycle taxis were allowed to operate.
“To me, this pilot study is the strength of this policy. Maaga pa lamang ay nakita na natin ang (this early, we are now seeing_ implementation gaps so the regulators have enough time to come up with solutions or interventions to improve its regulation once legalized,” Poe said.
Poe is the author of Senate Bill 104 seeking to allow and regulate the use of motorcycles as public utility vehicles.
“Four years and a global pandemic later, we believe it is now high time for Congress to use the data points from the ground to craft a policy that is responsive to the needs of the commuting public and all the stakeholders of the ever growing motorcycle taxi industry,” she added.
The pilot run allowed motorcycle transport network companies (TNC) – Angkas, JoyRide and Move It – to have a combined total cap of 45,000 riders in Metro Manila.
Poe said Land Transportation Office (LTO) data showed that there are around 19.2 million motorcycles in the country.
This is roughly 87 percent of all registered motor vehicles as of 2022. One out of three Filipino households owns a motorcycle and 51 percent of them use it for livelihood.
The lady lawmaker said commuters continue to seek for alternative mode of transportation to deal with the daily metro gridlock and the rising demand for mobility.
Poe stressed motorcycle taxis must adhere to the highest standards of road safety.
The most recent Global Status Report for Road Safety of the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 30 percentof all road crash deaths involve powered two- and three-wheeled vehicles, such as motorcycles, mopeds, scooters and electrical bikes (e-bikes), and the numbers are rising, according to the senator.
Poe added this is even higher in Southeast Asia where 43 percent of all road traffic deaths involve two and three wheelers.
“The established vulnerability of motorcycle as a mode of transportation calls for the government to step in. We need to legalize to reflect the reality on the ground but we also need the highest safety standards to make this a true mobility alternative,” she said.
“Our motorcycles-for-hire bill has been through the long and winding road to passage. Our commuters need a safe and convenient alternative right now,” she added.