Engineer, flower delivery person, gives her take on biking in the city

Ej Zabala, an engineer who moonlights as flower delivery person on a bike, on her way to deliver this beautiful bouquet of flowers to Barangay Labangon last Thursday, June 11.

CEBU CITY, Philippines— A civil engineer and a biking enthusiast from Barangay Basak San Nicholas, Cebu City has seen that biking in the city has now become a bit safer.

Ej Zabala, 41, who is a bike enthusiast since 2018, said that her sideline business in delivering bouquet of flowers around the city had been made easier since fewer vehicles were seen now around the city streets.

“I started this “sideline business” on flowers and deliveries about 2 years ago since I’m working in a construction firm. I can say it is only a bit safer now because of lesser vehicles allowed on the streets, but on normal times the word safe is far from where it should be for us bikers,” said Zabala.

She said that one of the challenges bikers like her face on the road was having to share a road with big vehicles.

Read more: Labella’s promise: Bike lanes in Cebu City

Engineer Zabala said that she and other biking enthusiasts in Cebu were still hoping that one day they will be able to bike safely in Cebu with bike lanes.

“Hence, we are appealing for BIKE LANES for us bikers to be safer and protected,” she added.

Just last Thursday, June 11, Zabala was able to deliver her first order of bouquet of flowers under GCQ to a village in Barangay Labangon with the use of her mountain bike.

Aside from delivering flowers on a bike, Zabala also uses her bike as her means of transportation to run some errands and sometimes even in going to work.

Since the city has been under general community quarantine, her sideline business in flower delivery has now slowly coming back on track.

“ I didn’t expect I will have order this time of the pandemic, it usually costs P1,500 to P3,000 depending on the arrangements, and it is free delivery as long as it is within the city,” she added.

She accepts orders online through her Facebook account Ej Zabala.

Zabala said that doing this sideline business is her way of maintaining an active lifestyle especially during this whole pandemic, and as Cebu City plans on putting up bike lanes soon, Zabala finds this as a big development and help for people like her who use their bikes as a means of transportation. /dbs