Environment committee chair Councilor Leonardo R. Avila III, in Monday's edition of the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Entertainment Plaza, said that a Technical Working Group will be formed to "flesh out the different provisions."
"Within the next few months, we will be crafting the provisions applicable to the three bike lane classifications identified earlier," Avila said.
The first lane is classified as "for common use."
Avila said these are in areas like the city's main streets where it is impossible to establish a separate bike lane.
"What we plan to do in places like San Pedro Street is to identify a speed limit in a particular lane to make it safe for bikers," Avila said.
The second classification is the "priority path". Avila said this lane is where cars can also pass through but are expected to "respect" bikers.
"The rule here is to 'yield to bikes.' Pwedeng daanan ng mga vehicles pero kung maraming bikers, sila talaga ang priority," Avila said.
The last classification is the designated bike lane, which according to Avila needs a longer time to implement.
"The city can implement the first two immediately kasi madali lang yun through the help of the Traffic Management Center," Avila said.
According to Avila, one of the outputs would be identifying classification roads and streets within the city fall.
The report will then be forwarded to the committee on energy, transportation and communication under Councilor (Pilar) Braga," Avila said.
The proposed ordinance establishing bike lanes in Davao City is based on health, safety and environment considerations.
"We have made a study on the number of bicycle riders in the city. This revealed that at a given time, about 10,000 bikers are in our streets. The peak hours are 6:00-7:30 in the morning and 5:00-7:00 in the evening. This means that a growing number of Dabawenyos are using bikes as a mode of transportation, that is why we have to pass a law aimed to make their trips safe," Avila said.
He added that the move is also complementary to the city's campaign to lessen the use of fossil fuel-powered transportation whose emissions are harmful to the environment.
Also to be incorporated in the ordinance are provisions requiring establishments and offices to segregate bicycle-parking bays with metal posts where bikes can be chained.
Offices are also encouraged to construct comfort rooms near the bike parking areas where biker-employees can change and freshen up before going to their respective offices.
Avila said these measures are needed in order to make Davao a truly bike-friendly city.
