Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade has put a damper on efforts to have electric-scooters registered while the country remains beset by the virus pandemic.
Tugade said he was not in favor of this plan floated by the Land Transportation Office, which also wanted scooter drivers to secure a license to drive.
Tugade said he would first listen to the opinions/arguments of regulators and stakeholders before jumping to any conclusions.
Tugade’s line drew the support of environmentalists who also launched the One Million E-sikleta project for the new normal Philippines on Thursday and opposed the LTO plan.
Dr. Leo Olarte, Clean Air Philippines Movement Inc. president, said requiring a driver’s license for e-scooter and e-bike riders would not help the government’s efforts to bring the economy back on the road to recovery.
Instead of the LTO plan, a safe transport adherent to the minimum health protocols must be encouraged and supported, Olarte said.
“Our commuting public, mostly from the workforce, is now suffering due to the limitations being imposed by government’s social distancing protocols in mass transport,” he told the media.
“Let not the government be the one to put the final nail on our fledging economy by imposing untimely limitations to our peoples access to affordable, clean, environmental-friendlyand social distancing compliant alternative mode of transportation,” Olarte said.
CAPMI earlier appealed to the Department of Transportation to implement a nationwide moratorium on the LTO’s Administration Oder 2006-01 registration of e-bikes and other e-vehicles.
