The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Metro Manila Council (MMC) approved a resolution that bans the use of e-vehicles such as e-bikes on national roads.
MMDA Regulation No. 24-022 series of 2024 states that e-bike and e-trike users will be prohibited from traversing circumferential and radial roads in Metro Manila starting in April. The said resolution also includes the prohibition of tricycles, pedicabs, pushcarts, and kuligligs on Metro Manila’s national roads.
The fine for those who violate the said resolution will be slapped with a Php 2,500 penalty. MMDA acting chairman Atty. Don Artes added that e-bike or e-trike users should have a valid driver’s license. Artes clarified that those who cannot present their driver’s license upon apprehension shall be subject to impoundment of their respective vehicles.
Artes previously said that e-bikes and similar e-vehicles not only slow down traffic but also pose grave risks to the lives of drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. As such, the growing number of e-bikes on Metro Manila roads prompted the MMDA and the MMC to regulate their use.
“Due to the proliferation of e-vehicles, the MMC deemed it imperative to regulate and penalize those who will traverse the national roads using such means of transportation,” Artes shared.
Artes also explained that the MMDA and the MMC are not totally banning the use of e-bikes. The agency just wants to regulate it since “it has been a common cause of traffic and road crash incidents.”
The MMDA noted that the were 554 road crash incidents recorded last year involving e-vehicles such as e-bikes and e-trikes.
“We won’t wait for these figures to blow up before we regulate it considering the increasing number of users of these kinds of vehicles,” Artes said.
The regulation is set to be implemented in April following an information and awareness campaign.
Meanwhile, each Metro Manila local government unit will craft its respective ordinances for the secondary and other inner roads under their jurisdiction.
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