Transport groups over the weekend asked the government to remove the limits on the number of motorcycle taxis to provide commuters with a convenient transportation alternative amid the poor mass transportation infrastructure.
CitizenWatch Philippines, Bantay Konsyumer, Kalsada, Kuryente and The Passenger Forum said in separate statements removing the limit on MTs would serve the interests of millions of commuting Filipinos while providing livelihood for thousands of qualified drivers and their dependents.
Former Quezon City Rep. and now CitizenWatch Philippines co-convenor Atty. Kit Belmonte said that because of the absence of adequate mass transportation systems to serve a growing Filipino population, “millions of commuters are plagued by the daily distress of having to fall in line for hours, squeeze themselves in packed modes of transportation or resort to illegal transport options, just to get home to their families after a hard day’s work.”
Belmonte said the shortage of options “resulted in the proliferation of illegal habal-habals, which are being patronized by desperate commuters.”
“Because they are unregulated, the drivers of habal-habal do not have proper training and they do not have accident insurance,” Belmonte said. Darwin G. Amojelar