If it could be the only mechanism to stop a protection racket from preying on habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) drivers in exchange for lenient implementation of traffic rules, exorbitant charges to commuters and to address passenger safety issues and brazen violation of laws, then I say let’s give a chance to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s plan to regulate habal-habal operation in many parts of the city.
I would not argue that habal-habal could be an alternative mode of transport in the midst of worsening traffic condition in the city, where their four-wheel counterparts could barely move around due to the reality that the number of four-wheel vehicles is increasing everyday while the streets have not expanded an inch to accommodate more of them.
Organizing habal-habal drivers is a good move by the city because this will result in self reliance, self regulation and empowerment to a sector that has been tagged as deliberate violators of traffic laws who unfairly charge exorbitant rates to hapless commuters even for the shortest destination.
The unregulated operation of habal-habal units violated several laws like the public utility franchise, prohibition against single motorcycle as means for public transport, no parking law, regulation on the number of passengers a motorcycle can carry and a lot more and the wearing of adequate safety gears.
I am not trying to question the capability of the good mayor to realize his plan, but imposition of any regulation for that matter needs an enabling law that would serve as the framework for imposing order and discipline on an underground transportation industry that plays hide and seek with government agencies that are supposed to implement laws on road usage and safety for commuters.
I wrote in my previous column how habal-habal drivers are being exploited by requiring them to pay P20 a day to allow them to fetch passengers on the national highway and let them to use the busy roads as their terminal, all these under the nose of traffic authorities.
What the mayor plans is a Herculean task, but it does not mean that it is impossible to implement. The first requirement to realize the plan is the support of habal-habal drivers who would have to agree with the imposition of regulations by mainly cutting on their excesses towards commuters and fellow motorists.
Following traffic rules and existing laws on the use of motorcycles as a public transport would be the first test that habal-habal drivers will have to hurdle considering that most of them are blatantly violating existing laws by carrying passengers in excess of what is allowed and not letting their passengers wear necessary safety gears.
The second test is to cut greed by agreeing on an acceptable fare beneficial to both drivers and passengers. For a distance of little more than a kilometer from their improvised terminal along the highway to a giant mall in the South Road Properties (SRP), habal-habal units are charging a minimum of P20 pesos per person.
This is very expensive compared to the highly regulated fare of a passenger jeepney that only collect P7 for a five-kilometer trip. Habal-habal vehicles don’t only overcharge, they bring more passengers than what they are allowed to carry.
Trying to put order in a formidable mess is better than not doing anything at all, or worse, make money out of the habal-habal drivers in exchange for tolerance and protection.
I would love to see the mayor’s plan implemented if only to protect all the stakeholders of the road.