A renewed Manila under Mayor Estrada (2)

THE E-trikes aim to help our tricycle drivers boost their income and promote tourism, contrary to rumors that tricycles would be taken off Manila’s streets. These battery-run tricycles are cheaper and easier to maintain. Some 50 drivers from the local tricycle operators and drivers associations (TODAs) in Malate and Binondo have been selected to become the first recipients of the E-trikes, said Dennis Alcoreza, chief of the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau (MTPB).

During the city’s conventions at the Manila Hotel last Oct. 12, Mayor Estrada assured the city’s more than 890 barangay chairmen and other constituents that the TODA groups will not be displaced as a result of the city’s experiment for cleaner and more efficient tricycles run by electricity.

The city government has procured an initial fleet of 384 battery-operated vehicles that will be distributed to tricycle drivers through an affordable “boundary-hulog” scheme.

“They won’t even spend a single centavo in charging the batteries of the E-trikes. We at the city government will provide them with free charging stations, in partnership with Meralco,” Alcoreza said.

The city government bought the 384 units of E-trikes for more than 1145 million or 1380, 000 each.

An E-trike runs on gel-type batteries that can be fully charged for only 4-5 hours. It can carry up to seven passengers and has a maximum speed of 40-45 kilometer per hour.

A modern metropolis is as good only as its market facilities, so Estrada renovated the public markets in San Andres Market, Trabajo, Sampaloc, and Santa Ana Market. Now, the toilets air-conditioned and guarded, like those of 5-star hotels.

The Estrada administration is launching its E-trike project in Manila as a means to combat air pollution and improve the livelihood of some 5,000 tricycle drivers in the city and thousands more of “colorum” pedicab drivers who operate without franchises.

Mayor Estrada hopes that with the introduction of E-trikes in Manila, the premiere city will make a big contribution towards a more livable nation with residents and tourists enjoying a good life.

The Quinta market in Quiapo will see a similar transformation once it is finished.