Metro Manila Council passes resolution banning e-bikes on major thoroughfares
e-Bikes – a collective term used for electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers and four-wheelers, are now banned on many major thoroughfares. This is after the Metro Manila Council (MMC), through the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), passed a resolution prohibiting the use of major thoroughfares for certain types of transportation and other types of conveyances.
MMDA Regulation No. 24-022 series of 2024, traversing of e-vehicles, such as e-bikes and e-trikes, as well as tricycles, pedicabs, pushcarts, and kuligligs on national roads, circumferential, and radial roads in Metro Manila will be prohibited.
MMDA photo
The prohibition shall be enforced on the following roads in Metro Manila which are under the jurisdiction of the MMDA:
- C1: Recto Avenue
- C2: Pres. Quirino Avenue
- C3: Araneta Avenue
- C4: EDSA
- C5: Katipunan/CP Garcia
- C6: Southeast Metro Manila Expressway
- R1: Roxas Boulevard
- R2: Taft Avenue
- R3: SLEX
- R4: Shaw Boulevard
- R5: Ortigas Avenue
- R6: Magsaysay Blvd./Aurora Blvd.
- R7: Quezon Ave./Commonwealth Ave.
- R8: A. Bonifacio Ave.
- R9: Rizal Ave.
- R10: Del Pan/Marcos Highway/McArthur Highway
- Elliptical Road
- Mindanao Avenue
- Marcos Highway
MMDA Acting Chairman, Atty. Don Artes, said that the fines for those who will violate the prohibition will be PHP 2,500. A driver’s license shall also be required for those who will drive electric-powered motor vehicles and tricycles. Those who cannot present their driver’s license upon apprehension shall be subject to impoundment of their respective vehicles.
“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,” he said, in a press conference.
Artes said the primary consideration in passing the resolution is concern for the safety, not just of e-vehicle users, but of other motorists, as well. “We are not totally banning the use of e-vehicles; we just want to regulate it since it has been a common cause of traffic and road crash incidents,” he emphasized.
Last year alone, the MMDA registered 554 road crash incidents involving e-vehicles.
“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 their respective ordinances for the secondary and other inner roads under their jurisdiction.
San Juan City Mayor and MMC President Francis Zamora, for his part, said that the NCR local chief executives will ensure that the ordinances to be passed relative to the regulation will be unified to avoid confusion.
Malabon City Mayor Jeannie Sandoval has expressed support for the regulation and for its effective implementation.
