MMDA helping to sell more motor vehicles

AT a time when our cities are getting warmer and more polluted, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is making things worse with policies that are pro-motorization, anti-environment, anti-poor and anti-mobility. Their latest regulation is also likely unlawful as it contravenes Republic Act (RA) 11697, or the “Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (Evida),” which requires public and private sectors to support electric vehicle adoption.

When heat records are being shattered, we need to move away from encouraging the use of fossil-fuel motor vehicles that make our streets much warmer (from engine heat and hot exhaust), especially when thousands of cars are stuck in traffic daily. There is also the noise and air pollution associated with increasing motorization.

For cooler, healthier and more livable cities, the global prescription is to shift to public transport, active transport (walking or cycling) and light electric vehicles (LEVs, e.g., e-trikes, e-bikes, electric kick scooters) that are all climate-friendly, space-efficient, health-inducing and low-cost. In fact, many cities are moving to electric cargo bikes as the “last mile” logistics solution in order to reduce road congestion.

For all these good reasons, e-bikes and e-trikes are the fastest-growing type of electric vehicle globally. In fact, the global policy prescription is to regulate such vehicles “lightly,” treating them as much as possible like bicycles so that there are few barriers to adoption.

In the Philippines, e-bikes and e-trikes are growing in popularity, enabling many women and men to access more services and economic opportunities. Persons with disabilities and those with diminishing physical capacities are able to remain active and mobile using e-bikes and e-trikes. Many delivery riders are switching to e-bikes and etrikes because they can make many more deliveries and cover a larger area, enabling them to increase their daily earnings.

Because e-bikes and e-trikes are light, they do not endanger other road users. In contrast, automobiles are the leading cause of road crashes that kill and maim Filipinos, the major source of traffic and harmful emissions, and are the least efficient vehicle for moving people and goods. With the significant positive impact of LEVs and the considerable harm from private motor vehicles, the strategy of the MMDA should be to encourage more LEVs in cities and to discourage private car use, recognizing that only 6 percent of Filipino households own cars.