Local government units have been enjoined by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to adopt minimum standards in the formulation and review of their tricycle and pedicab franchise and regulatory ordinances.
In a memorandum circular issued recently, the DILG also asked the LGUs to adopt its recommendation on specified places where parking is prohibited.
Secretary Eduardo Año said guidelines and standards have to be established and implemented to ensure the safety, comfort, and convenience of the general public, most especially those who use public streets or ways.
Most local ordinances involving tricycle franchises focus mainly on the color scheme.
In Virac, while an ordinance required all tricycles and pedicabs to undergo an annual operation and safety inspection to ensure roadworthiness, the actual inspection generally covers only the horn, brake lights, signal lights, tail light, headlight, and the inner sidecar light.
Under DILG MC-2020-004 issued Jan. 10, 2020, no tricycles, pedicabs, and motorized pedicabs shall be issued franchise unless they comply with the following requirements: clean windshield; garbage receptacle; functioning horn that does not emit exceptionally loud or startling sound; two signal lights at front and back; tail light, including license plate light; top chain extending to the rear wheel; white headlights in front and red trail light with functioning stoplight in the rear, visible at least 50 meters from the front and rear of the tricycle or bicycle and functioning under all weather conditions and lighted starting 6 pm to 6 am; light installed inside the sidecar and kept lighted while plying routes; anti-noise equipment/silencer; sticker containing the body number and identifiable from a distance; fully operating mufflers; and roadworthiness of the unit.
“No tricycle-for-hire or pedicab-for-hire shall be allowed to carry more passengers and goods than what it is designed for, or more than what is authorized in the franchise,” the circular stated.
The memo also urged LGUs to establish zones within its boundaries. In the case of existing zones within more than one municipality, operators serving said zone shall secure MTOP/POP from each of the LGUs having jurisdiction over the areas covered by the zone.
An operator wishing to stop service completely or to suspend service for more than one month should report in writing such termination or suspension to the SB which originally granted the MTOP prior thereto, it added.
The MTOP shall be valid for three (3) years, renewable for the same period.
“Transfer to another zone, change of ownership of unit or transfer of MTOP shall be construed as an amendment to MTOP and shall require appropriate approval of the SB,” it stressed.
The DILG emphasized that a tricycle-for-hire shall be allowed to operate like a taxi service, i.e., service is rendered upon demand and without a fixed route within its authorized zone.
On the other hand, the same memorandum circular prescribes specified places where no driver shall park a vehicle or permit it to stand, whether attended or unattended, upon a highway or in any of the following places: a) within an intersection; b) on a crosswalk; c) within six meters of the intersection of curb lines; d) within four meters of the driveway entrance to any fire station; e) within four meters of a fire hydrant; in front of a private driveway; g) on the roadway side of any vehicle stopped or parked at the sub or edge of the highway; and, h) at any place where official signs have been erected prohibiting parking.
“No person shall drive or park a motor vehicle upon or along any sidewalk, path or alley not intended for vehicular traffic or parking,” it stated.
The circular also prohibits any person from driving his motor vehicle in such a manner as to obstruct or impede the passage of any vehicle, nor, while discharging or taking on passengers or loading or unloading freight, obstruct the free passage of other vehicles on the highway.
Sec. Año also directed all Tricycle Operators and Drivers Associations (TODAs) to coordinate with the Sangguniang Bayan regarding their operations particularly on the establishment of their terminals in relation to the road clearing operation.
All sanggunians have been directed to review, amend, or revoke all existing ordinances or code contrary to the policies on road clearing operations.