More E-Trikes to Operate on Boracay Island

ILOILO CITY — More electric passenger tricycles (e-trikes) will be plying the streets of Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan when it reopens to tourists in October 26.

Richard Osmeña, Regional Director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Western Visayas (LTFRB-6), on Tuesday said that they are planning to allow the operation of about a thousand e-trikes on the island by October.

“We have existing e-trikes and I am mandated by DOTr (Department of Transportation) to take out all the (old) tricycles in Boracay,” he said in an interview.

Osmeña said there are about 2,000 tricycles plying on the island but only about 50 of them are e-trikes.

Through Executive Order No. 007-2018 issued by Malay Mayor Ceciron Cawaling, the Malay Transportation Office was required to implement the phase out of tricycle units on the island as they push for the use of environment-friendly e-trikes and to reduce traffic congestion.

Osmeña said he will be going to the island next week to check the status of the phase out. “We will help take them out slowly,” he said.

He added that he will also talk with the local government unit on how they could assist the drivers to cushion the impact of shifting from old tricycles to e-trikes.

“As much as possible that there will be no tricycle drivers who will be displaced,” he said.

Aside from e-trikes, Osmeña said that they are also finalizing the plan to allow electric jeepneys to operate on the island. (PNA)