Tricycles and Pedicabs ban along national highways

Common inner-city pedicabs of Manila, Philippines
A May 10, 2011 press release by the Department of the Interior and Local Government
Secretary Jesse M. Robredo of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) today enjoined local chief executives to strictly adhere to the guidelines and standards in the operation of tricycles and pedicabs in local government units (LGUs), including the ban of these vehicles along national highways.
Robredo’s reminder came as the Department’s regional and field offices received reports that tricycles are still operating along national highways in spite of the issuance of an earlier directive banning the same.
“For the safety of the drivers and the passengers, please ensure that the ban on tricycles and pedicabs along national highways is strictly observed,” said the DILG Secretary in his directive to provincial governors, city and municipal mayors, punong barangays, sanggunian presiding officers and the ARMM regional governor.
Robredo, however, pointed out that tricycles may be allowed to operate along national highways if there is no other alternative road network available, such as routes beyond the town proper, subject to the prescribed guidelines of the Department of Transportation and Communication.
“This ban should not be imposed by LGUs if the national road is the only available road which these types of conveyances could use,” he stressed.
In 2007, the Department issued Memo Circular 2007-01, banning tricycles and pedicabs to operate “on national highways utilized by four-wheel vehicles greater than four tons and where normal speed exceeds 40 kph.”
The same directive prescribes the minimum standards to be adopted by city and municipal governments in the formulation of a regulatory code for tricycle and pedicab franchise operation, including physical requirements/ equipage, fares, load/capacity limit and operating conditions.
Sections 447 and 458 of the Local Government Code has conferred unto municipal and city governments, through their sanggunians, the power to regulate the operation of tricycles and the grant of franchise for their operation within their territorial jurisdiction, subject to the guidelines prescribed by DOTC.

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