ILOILO City – Land Transportation Office (LTO) Region 6 impounded five electric bicycles (e-bikes) operating here as passenger transport vehicles.
E-bikes used as such are considered colorum (operating without a franchise), according to LTO Region 6 information office Riza Otayde.
E-bikes are not designed to be public utility vehicles, she stressed.
Owners of the impounded e-bikes could claim them at LTO-6 after presenting pertinent documents proving that the e-bikes were duly registered, said Otayde.
“Indi pag i-release kun wala sang registration bisan nakabayad na sang fine for the violation, kag i-hold ang license unless makapakita sang certificate of registration,” she said.
On the other hand, the city government’s Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) chief said they have not apprehended any e-bike yet.
But Jeck Conlu assured the public that “manakop kami kon may makita kami.”
Last year, the PSTMO impounded six e-bikes modified into electric tricycles or e-trikes (e-bikes with sidecars), said Conlu.
Each owner paid a fine of P1,000.
Mayor Jose Espinosa III recently agreed there was a need to regulate e-trikes but he was against apprehending them.
“I understand where they’re coming from. They’re just like our trisikad drivers trying to eke out a living to put food on their tables,” he said.
LTO-6 recently launched a campaign against these e-bikes.
“We will impound e-bikes picking up passengers. E-bikes should be used only as a private mode of transport but even so, not on major streets,” said Otayde.
Operated with rechargeable batteries and not petrol, e-bikes must not also be converted into tricycles or attached with sidecars, she added./PN
