Backlash prompts delay of e-bike ban
Commuters in Metro Manila who rely on light electric vehicles such as e-bikes won a reprieve when President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr sought to delay a ban on the vehicles after a public backlash.
“We need more time for the widespread dissemination of information on this ban,” Marcos Jnr said on Thursday, three days after the ban went into effect.
His announcement has been met with appreciation from commuter advocacy groups who hoped it would lead to a reconsideration of the ban, which they consider to be unfairly biased towards car owners.
In February, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) – a government agency under the Office of the President overseeing transport and road safety across the capital region – issued a resolution banning small electric vehicles such as e-bicycles and e-tricycles on nearly 20 national roads and highways.
This sparked anger from members of the public, including from commuter groups and alternative transport advocates. Community-led cycling groups such as the Make It Safer movement led a protest on April 10 at the human rights commission in Quezon City, days before the ban was to be implemented.
The president said he had instructed the MMDA to provide some leeway to the affected vehicles travelling along the roads identified in the resolution.
“Under the grace period, no tickets, fines, or impounding of [e-tricycles] will be issued. If they will be flagged, this is so our authorities can properly educate them on the roads they can use, and remind them of the new rules to reinforce safety and order on our roads,” he said.
The president did not specify a time frame for the grace period.
Ira Cruz, director of Alt Mobility PH, an advocacy group for pedestrian and commuter rights, said the group welcomed the president’s decision to delay the ban.
“We would like to see it as an indication that the president listens to public sentiment. We hope that MMDA takes the president’s lead in incorporating humanity into policies,” he said.
Cristina Batalla, an organiser with Make It Safer, said proper education and enforcement were essential in improving the mobility guidelines for light e-vehicles.
In a February interview on news channel Teleradyo Serbisyo, MMDA chairman Romando Artes justified the ban to counter the increasing number of accidents involving light electric vehicles.
The agency had recorded 554 accidents with two casualties last year, he said. “We don’t want to increase the number of minors and those of old age driving these without licences, not following traffic rules … for safety reasons, we need to regulate them this time to reduce accidents,” he said.
Cruz called the agency’s response “disproportionate” and “very bewildering” as data showed that road crashes involving motor vehicles vastly outnumbered other modes of transport. The MMDA recorded 44,493 vehicular accidents in Metro Manila from January to July last year, 44,000 of which involved four-wheel vehicles.
“The popularity of e-trikes is due to the government’s inability to provide a working transport system. So it’s hugely unfair the government is cracking down on a solution born out of its inability to provide basic services,” he said.
Batalla said light electric vehicles served as valuable alternatives for segments of society that could not afford cars and had limited options because of inefficient mass transport.
“A lot of the people who use these are labourers, single parents, and healthcare workers. We’ve heard a lot of stories from single mothers who use e-tricycles to bring their kids to school and make multiple care trips,” she said.
She added those who used these vehicles generally used them for trips of five kilometres or fewer, but the lack of pavements and seamless public transport had made it difficult for pedestrians to make these trips on foot.
“If you look at more walkable cities, they can do it. But with the extreme urban heat that we have, lack of proper pavements and very hostile crossing spaces, it’s not easy to get there.”
Cruz criticised the MMDA for not conducting a proper public consultation before they issued the resolution, adding that the ban “failed to take into consideration its applicability on the ground as reflected in the broad exceptions in the resolution”.
Cruz said the agency’s latest resolution followed a series of car-centric policies, despite car owners being in the minority. These included the removal of selected bike lanes and the blocking of the implementation of an active transport infrastructure plan that it had approved last year.