The Cebu City government is opening three new tricycle routes to prevent the overcrowding of existing routes. | CDN Digital File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines –Three new tricycles routes will be opened in Cebu City to distribute units that are already overcrowding on existing routes.
City Legal Officer Rey Gealon, who is also the executive director of the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO), said that the addition of the new routes will now bring to 22 the total number of routes in the city that is being used by 494 franchised units.
The addition of new routes is an amendment that will be introduced to the city’s Tricycle Route Plan. This was also in response to earlier directives of Mayor Edgardo Labella to decongest some existing routes.
Changes in the city’s TRP is also in compliance with the requirement of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to ensure the clearing of primary and secondary roads in Local Government Units (LGUs).
Gealon said that a copy of the amended TRP will soon be submitted to DILG for review.
Read: Labella: Tricycles not a problem in Cebu City
Labella said in an earlier interview that they only issue franchises on units plying interior roads. Tricycles were already barred from primary and secondary routes even before the issuance of the DILG directive.
As of today, February 22, 2020, Gealon said City Hall has so far issued a total of 494 tricycle franchises.
The newly opened routes will serve F. Llamas Street to Pleasant Homes Subdivision and Don Bosco and back; Felina Village to Gaisano Tisa and vice versa; and the Villa Leyson Subdivision.
“Cebu City’s Tricycle Route Plan (TRP) has been updated and put in place for all-out implementation and sustained enforcement. This is in compliance with existing laws and regulations, particularly DILG’s Memorandum and City Ordinance 2357,” Gealon said.
The city’s other existing routes serve F. Llamas and Sabellano Streets on its way to Pleasant Homes, Don Bosco, Fairview Subdivision, San Carlos Heights, Lourdes Village, to J. Tabura Street and back among others.
A total of 47 units are also serving routes in Barangay Punta Princessa in the city’s southern district.
But a fewer number of tricycles totalling to only 10 are allowed in Tabay ilawm, Riva Ridge, Sta Teresita, Tisa Chapel and Tisa II and back.
Gealon said that the number of units allowed to ply a particular route is determined based on the length and width of the existing road and the number of passengers in the area.
“The said ordinance (CO 2357) provides for a comprehensive regulation for the registration and operation of motorized tricycles in which the TRP has been previously laid out. As CCTO’s Executive Director, I ordered a relentless, no-nonsense campaign against erring drivers of tricycles and pedicabs,” said Gealon in a text message. / dcb