Monday, May 21, 2007 Transport office continues drive vs motorcycles-for-hire By Carlo P. Mallo
THE greatest dilemma of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) right now is what seems to be a cat and mouse chase between the traffic enforcers of the agency and the "habal-habal" (motorcycles-for-hire) drivers of the city.
According to LTO Southern Mindanao Chief Gomer Dy, the use of "habal-habal" (passenger motorcycles) as a mode of public transportation will never be allowed and yet it continues to flourish.
Dy told Sun Star Davao that more than 70 percent of accidents of single motorcycles involve "habal-habals.”
He added that with the safety status of the motorcycles, it would be next to impossible for the "habal-habal" to be accredited for public utility.
But catching them is another matter, saying the drivers are so wily, they simply do not pass by routes where LTO traffic enforcers are sighted, or they simply stop picking up passengers.
They resume their operations when the LTO group has already left. With word passed on from one motorcycle driver to another, these drivers can easily get word on whether the LTO is around or not.
Dy added that the only way to effectively combat the "habal-habal" is when people would stop patronizing the illegal mode of transportation. However, Dy admitted that the "habal-habal" would be hard to remove as it is cheap and is accessible to the masses.
In another concern, Dy said the number of unregistered public utilities plying the main thoroughfares in the region has already decreased.
He said that this can be attributed to the fact that the Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board have already legitimized the use of vans as modes of public transport.
For so long, vans were not among the types of public transport but passengers prefer to ride these vans as these are faster and need much less passengers to fill it up.
