ILOILO City – Bike lanes here must be free from parked vehicles and other obstructions, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas.
He ordered the Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) to apprehend the drivers or owners of vehicles parking on bike lanes.
“Bike lanes should be clear at all times,” said Treñas.
He also challenged Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) traffic auxiliaries to “show that you are worth the salaries the people of Iloilo pay you.”
Furthermore, Treñas instructed the City Engineer’s Office to place bollards on bike lanes on Diversion Road to prevent people from driving a car along bike lanes.
Iloilo City Regulation Ordinance No. 2016-299 or the Benigno Aquino Bike Lane Ordinance penalizes motorized vehicles that pass on, obstruct or excavate designated bike lanes.
The measure, however, was amended particularly the penalties. From P2,000 fine and citation ticket, it increased to P5,000.
“This is our way of discouraging illegal parking along our bike lanes and also to avoid traffic congestion because of illegal parking,” Councilor Miguel Treñas, who authored the amended ordinance, stressed.
Aside from Regulation Ordinance 2016-299, another bike lane-related measure is Ordinance 2014-193 (An ordinance requiring government and non-government buildings with existing parking spaces to provide a safe bicycle parking zone).
The city’s bike lanes – called the Iloilo City Network – is a safe, scenic and eco-friendly bike path stretching 11 kilometers.
In August last year, during the three-day Iloilo Bike Festival 2022, this southern city officially positioned itself as the “Bike Capital of the Philippines”.
