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Friday, March 29, 2024

Legalize, regulate motorcycle taxis now

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"What options do the people have?"

 

The continued service of some 60,000 motorcycle taxis as permitted by the Department of Transportation has apparently alleviated the dire need for efficient public transportation in Metro Manila, thanks to the intercession of Senator Bong Go and his colleagues in the Upper Chamber on behalf of commuters.

Now the transport Technical Working Group should be working hard to complete their long-delayed “study” on this mode of public transport, instead of engaging in malicious bickering with the operators of Angkas, JoyRide and others.

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The TWG’s focus now should be to aid the lawmakers in legislating on legalizing and regulating the motorcycle taxi operations and the conduct of the thousands of units on the streets. The TWG must cast aside the foolish idea of sweeping them off the streets.

Meantime, it is the responsibility of these online-based ride-hailing companies to ensure that their motorcycle drivers are seriously trained on road safety and monitored to strictly observe existing traffic rules at all times.

Just wait until one Angkas unit figures in a serious road accident. The TWG will surely be all over the motorcycle taxi firm.

There have been complaints about some abusive and reckless driving by some motorcycle drivers of Angkas and Sampa, including illegal counter-flow driving, running the red-light, driving up the ramp and on the sidewalk, splitting the lane, defective headlight and tail lights, and improper helmets. 

As customers, the riding public should promptly report any infraction to Angkas, JoyRide, MoveIt or Sampa, as the case may be. 

Abusive and reckless motorcycle drivers must be penalized, their license revoked. They should be removed from the streets.

Of course, these violations are, of course, very common among motorcycle riders in general and are a cause of irritation to other motorists and pedestrians day in and day out. They are also the cause of hundreds of road accidents involving motorcycles daily in Metro Manila and elsewhere in the country. 

Unfortunately, the frequent sight of road mishaps involving motorcycles has been viewed with disdain. Riders are blamed, instantly.

Incidentally, President Duterte recently signed RA 11468 designating Nov. 3 as National Day of Remembrance of Road Crash Victims. 

The authorities, on the other hand, must once and for all enforce traffic rules and regulations at all times, rain or shine and even at night. Often, traffic enforcers are just not there where and when they're needed.

The influx of these ride-along motorcycle taxis has obviously added to the ever-increasing number of public and private vehicles crowding the metro streets, not to mention the illegal "habalhabal" motorbikes that have been tolerated and a source of police corruption for many years. 

And, with the half-hearted and ningaskogon style of traffic management in Metro Manila and in other cities, the traffic quagmire will never be eased. It is very frustrating on the part of motorists and commuters caught in traffic tangled up at an intersection due to a broken traffic light and there is no traffic enforcer on duty, natutulog sa pansitan!

Traffic enforcers should man the major thoroughfares, not only EDSA, and simply go after the homicidal maniacs on the streets, motorcycle riders and car drivers alike!

Meantime, the motorcycle taxi operations should be legalized so they can be duly regulated.

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