How Malabon plans to regulate tricycles, pedicabs

Considered part of Malabon culture, tricycles are used to take visitors on “food trips” around the city . —Contributed photo

The Malabon City Council seeks to regulate tricycles and pedicabs that can ply the streets by awarding franchises only to registered voters in the city.

A draft ordinance that will amend the city’s 11-year-old transportation code was passed on second hearing on Monday. It seeks to prioritize Malabon residents in the granting of franchises for tricycles and pedicabs.

Under the measure, franchise applicants must present proof from the Commission on Elections that they are registered voters in Malabon.

Current franchise owners who could not meet this new requirement may continue to ply their routes but not after the franchise had already expired.

Grace Kobayashi, head of the city’s Tricycle Regulatory Unit (TRU), said the amendment was necessary also to decongest the roads.

Data from the TRU showed there are currently 4,053 registered tricycle units and 1,721 pedicabs in the city as of this month, of which around 1,000 are owned by non-Malabon residents.

Kobayashi noted that with these figures, the city had already far exceeded the “ideal ratio” of tricycle-pedicab per volume of passengers, which is one vehicle for every 125 people.

The city’s tourism office earlier launched projects embracing the tricycle as part of the local culture, like “food trips” or packaged tours of famous local restaurants and heritage sites using this vehicle as mode of transport.