A LAWMAKER is calling on the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to extend the study which looks into the safety and viability of motorcycle taxis as a mode of transportation.
“I am appealing to the DOTr to give them [motorcycle taxis] an extension muna para habang ginagawa natin ang batas,” Samar 1st District Representative Edgar Sarmiento said during the joint hearing of the House’s committees on economic affairs and transportation Wednesday.
The pilot tests led by the DOTr’s technical working group (TWG), which temporarily allowed motorcycle taxis to operate, expired on March 23.
Motorcycle taxis’ operations, however, were cut short days ahead of the study’s expiration as the government implemented enhanced community quarantine all over Luzon on March 17.
With this, motorcycle taxi operators would have to wait for existing laws to be amended or a new legislation to be passed to allow their operations.
Sarmiento, who chairs the lower chamber’s transportation panel, said that the TWG has yet to submit its report to the House of Representatives.
The lawmaker noted that the Congress’s discussions in aid of legislation concerning motorcycle taxis will depend on the results of the study.
Sarmiento said the transportation panel is looking at discussing motorcycle taxis after the President’s State of the Nation Address.(GMA News)
