BY RUBY SILUBRICO and GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – Electric bicycles or e-bikes are not designed to be public utility vehicles and thus must not be used as such, according to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Western Visayas. Reports reached LTO’s regional office that some e-bikes were operating like tricycles picking up passengers on main roads.
Some of these e-bikes do not even have plate numbers or registered, according to LTO-6 spokesperson Riza Otayde.
LTO-6 has 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.
CITY MAY REGULATE E-BIKES
Despite LTO’s pronouncement, however, e-bikes operating like tricycles may yet be allowed by the city government. Councilor Plaridel Nava is planning to craft an ordinance regulating these e-bikes-turned-tricycles.
“I may file it by the second week of March,” said Nava, chairperson of the committee on transportation and public utility.
If e-bikes are attached with sidecars and operate like e-trikes for public transport, the owners should get a franchise first from the city government, he stressed.
“Kon byahehon nila, kinahanglan kuha sila prangkisa sa syudad because indi man sila pwede sa Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board. Probably we will make a different classification sa ila,” said Nava.
The process may be similar to that for the trisikad, he stressed.
According to Nava, he recently had a meeting with around 50 e-bike operators.
“Kon indi kamo pagdakpon okay man lang kay palangabuhian niyo ina. Pero hinali mag-operate ang gobyerno kag dakpon kamo, wala kamo basulon because indi man pwede nga mabyahe ka lang nga wala permit and franchise,” said Nava.
Even an e-bike manufacturer met with him, he revealed.
“Siling ko sa iya wala man question negosyo mo. Pero kon gamiton sa pagbyahe we have to come in and regulate that,” Nava told the manufacturer.
He added: “Kon personal service okay lang. Pero kon ginabyahe mo, indi na ya pwede nga mapinagusto ka lang,.”
Meanwhile, here are the requirements and steps in registering e-bike and other light electric vehicles as required by LTO’s Administrative Order 2006-01:
- Complete all of the following requirements:
* commercial invoice of the vehicle from the country of origin
* BOC Certificate of Payment
* Certificate of Stock Reported (CSR)
* sales invoice of MV with sales evaluation from the regional office
* PNP-TMG MV Clearance Certificate
* a duly accomplished and approved Motor Vehicle Inspection Report (MVIR)
* appropriate insurance certificate of cover
* Taxpayer’s Identification Number (TIN)
- Proceed to the LTO transaction counters and submit all the required documents to the Evaluator for evaluation and computation of fees.
- Actual inspection of motor vehicles with duly accomplished MVIR. (The form is available for download at the LTO website. You can accomplish this form prior to transacting your business at the LTO.)
- Proceed to the cashier when your name is called for the necessary fees and obtain an Official Receipt (OR).
- Proceed to the Releasing Counter when your name is called to obtain the Certificate of Registration (CR), plates, stickers, and other requested documents./PN
thus, MC and Tricycles must not also pass through fastlanes {left lanes} on main roads and highways all over the country