by Nicasio Angelo Agustin
I was driving in Quezon City when I encountered an apparition that is common in Davao but rarely seen in Manila’s major thoroughfares: a trisiboat. With the streets typically congested to road rage-inducing levels, trisiboats are not normally found head to head with other vehicles in QC. But there it was, inching its way slowly ahead of my car as I moved forward with the green light, stalling my progress and forcing me to reduce speed to 10 KPH, until we were both in the middle of the intersection as the light turned orange. Then I heard a whistle from an MMDA enforcer. Being a law-abiding citizen, I complied with the enforcer’s hand signals and pulled over, while the trisiboat went its slow and merry way. I asked the enforcer what my offense was, and he replied that I was going too slow and delaying other vehicles as a consequence. I politely pointed out that the reason for my turtle speed was the trisiboat that cut me off as I was moving forward, and why wasn’t its driver arrested? The enforcer told me that he couldn’t stop the trisiboat, because it was not registered and therefore, no sanctions could be placed on it.
I was dumbfounded. Here I was -a polite, law-abider driving a registered vehicle with a valid driver’s license, a taxpayer who had fully paid a year’s worth of road taxes – and I was being unjustly punished because a trisiboat had cut me off.
Such occurrences may be rare in Manila, but not in Davao. Here, my daily drives will always include a close encounter with trisiboats, trisikads, tricycles, a payong-payong and all forms of slow motorized and non-motorized conveyances that transport people, animals, vegetables, scrap metal, eggs, gasul tanks, beds and sofas and the kitchen sink – and trailing behind them, a long line of vehicles driven by flabbergasted motorists whose pace is being dictated by an oversized rolling junk.
The trisiboat problem is like a large tumor that indicates a cancer lurking beneath. It is an indicator of poor governance. More than a traffic problem, it is an indicator of a system that allows people with the audacity and impunity to ignore rules, while the law-abiding suffer.
I used to rant that these pseudo-vehicles should be totally banned from Davao. But some local officials tell me banning them will deprive Davao’s poor of a means of livelihood. Given this humane argument then, how to solve the trisiboat problem? The answer is to regulate them.
First, require registration. Unregistered trikes must be impounded.The city government can determine a fair rate for registration – one that inculcates a sense of responsibility and accountability.
Second, regulation. I believe such modes of transport have no place on national and major roads and the downtown area. These conveyances are redundant when jeepneys ply their route. They should only be an option within and to and from residential areas where public transport is absent.
Third, standardization. This means strict guidelines on how they should look (e.g. color-coding for those plying a specific, official route, including assigning body numbers for easy monitoring), how many passengers they are allowed to carry (for safety’s sake) and maybe even a uniform for its drivers (to give them some dignity while they pursue a living, not just a pathetic excuse for livelihood).
I am looking forward to the day when trisiboats and their pesky cousins shall have found their rightful place – a place that respects my rights as a motorist, and where Davao City will not allow them to multiply to the point of being a nuisance. Only then will I be able to say with pride that, indeed, Life Is Here!
Please send your reactions to nic_agustin@yahoo.com.
I was dumbfounded. Here I was -a polite, law-abider driving a registered vehicle with a valid driver’s license, a taxpayer who had fully paid a year’s worth of road taxes – and I was being unjustly punished because a trisiboat had cut me off.
Such occurrences may be rare in Manila, but not in Davao. Here, my daily drives will always include a close encounter with trisiboats, trisikads, tricycles, a payong-payong and all forms of slow motorized and non-motorized conveyances that transport people, animals, vegetables, scrap metal, eggs, gasul tanks, beds and sofas and the kitchen sink – and trailing behind them, a long line of vehicles driven by flabbergasted motorists whose pace is being dictated by an oversized rolling junk.
The trisiboat problem is like a large tumor that indicates a cancer lurking beneath. It is an indicator of poor governance. More than a traffic problem, it is an indicator of a system that allows people with the audacity and impunity to ignore rules, while the law-abiding suffer.
I used to rant that these pseudo-vehicles should be totally banned from Davao. But some local officials tell me banning them will deprive Davao’s poor of a means of livelihood. Given this humane argument then, how to solve the trisiboat problem? The answer is to regulate them.
First, require registration. Unregistered trikes must be impounded.The city government can determine a fair rate for registration – one that inculcates a sense of responsibility and accountability.
Second, regulation. I believe such modes of transport have no place on national and major roads and the downtown area. These conveyances are redundant when jeepneys ply their route. They should only be an option within and to and from residential areas where public transport is absent.
Third, standardization. This means strict guidelines on how they should look (e.g. color-coding for those plying a specific, official route, including assigning body numbers for easy monitoring), how many passengers they are allowed to carry (for safety’s sake) and maybe even a uniform for its drivers (to give them some dignity while they pursue a living, not just a pathetic excuse for livelihood).
I am looking forward to the day when trisiboats and their pesky cousins shall have found their rightful place – a place that respects my rights as a motorist, and where Davao City will not allow them to multiply to the point of being a nuisance. Only then will I be able to say with pride that, indeed, Life Is Here!
Please send your reactions to nic_agustin@yahoo.com.
