ILOILO CITY—By January next year, electric tricycles will service residents and tourists on Boracay Island as the local government starts implementing a program to phase out gasoline-run tricycles in the resort island in Malay, Aklan.
Acting Malay Mayor Frolibar Bautista directed the municipal transportation office to implement the phaseout from Nov. 19 until the end of the year, citing municipal council resolutions supporting long-term environmental protection measures on the island.
A Department of Environment and Natural Resources study had identified tricycles as a main contributor in air and noise pollution in Boracay.
At least 415 gasoline-run tricycles and more than 200 electric tricycles are operating on the island.
The Land Transportation Office is pushing for the reduction of the number of vehicles to help decongest the island. Local government data showed that 5,122 private and public utility vehicles were registered on the island as of 2017.—NESTOR BURGOS JR.