THE 20TH City Council approved on Tuesday the proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Traffic Code, further extending the validity of motorized tricycle operators permit (MTOP) from one year to two years.
The MTOP is issued to owners/ operators of every unit of motorized tricycle for hire (MTH) upon payment of the regulatory fees.
Conrado Baluran, committee chair on transportation, told reporters on Tuesday that the ordinance seeks to regulate the number of vehicles on the streets.
“The woes and clamors of our tricycle operators and drivers are on their payment of application of new units and renewal which they find hefty, so we decided to visit it to lower it down and extend validity,” Baluran said.
He added this will encourage the operators to register their units which will also benefit the city through a revenue boost.
For the regulatory fees, there are no changes for franchise/ provisional authority, which is still P1000; registration fee, P500; the filing fee for MTOP per unit, P50; fare adjustment fee for a fare increase, P50; the filing fee for amendment of MTOP, P30; and supervision fee, P100. However, the fee is payable on or before Sept. 30 every two years.
The business permit fee payable to the Business Bureau is still P200, payable on or before Jan. 20 every two years.
On top of the regulatory fees, late renewal of MTOP and a business permit is required to pay a 25% surcharge for each.
CTTMO-issued driver’s ID is still P100, while the penalty for a lost CTTMO-issued license plate is P500.
Section 92 on the operating conditions of the MTH also mandates that an applicant may be granted a maximum of five units for a single MTOP franchise registration which is also valid for 2 years.
Previously, fees for the application of new and renewal of MTOP amount to P1,620 per MTOP, per MTH unit.
Baluran said with this amendment, the owners will only have to pay almost the same amount but it can save them more than 50% as it will be collected after two years.
MTH, with motorcycles 100CC and above, are now qualified for granting of franchise or MTOP.
Under MTH registration and licensing, an additional document was required, which is the barangay certification of the availability of a private parking area for the unit, to avoid parking on the sidewalks.
CTTMO logged a total of 3,159 new MTOP applications for the whole year of 2024, which is seen to increase with the MTH owners encouraged to register their units.
