Around eight percent of the 23,000 recorded passenger tricycles operating in the city have franchises.
Dionisio Abude, chief of the City Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO), bared that 5,975 out of 23,000 tricycles are registered in their office but only 1,900 have franchises.
He said that 23,000 figure came from the various tricycle operators and drivers associations operating in the city.
“Our aim is to put a stop to those who are illegally operating. We have to prevent colorum tricycles to operate,” Abude said.
He said some of the operators did not renew their franchise after it expired.
Others, Abude said, really don’t have legal document “yet they are gaining income even without a franchise.”
The CTTMO chief said there are advantages if an operator has a franchise. The utmost is the insurance, aside from the safety of the passengers.
Councilor Conrado Baluran, the City Council’s committee chair on transportation and communications, said they have requested the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to hold in abeyance the joint memorandum halting the issuance and extension of tricycle franchises.
Baluran said he and his committee will be conducting hearings soon on the matter. Concerned agencies such as the CTTMO, City Planning Office and legitimate organizations of tricycle operators and drivers will be invited. He has filed a resolution regarding the DOTr’s memorandum circular no. 001 series of 2017.
“It is unfair that these 1,000 tricycles who acquired their franchises are paying religiously while those illegally operating are not paying anything but have gained income,” he said.
He said that the protection of the passengers will be the utmost concern to consider.
