E-TRIKES VS. PETROL TRIKES
Due to the ever continuing rise in the prices of Oil Products in the World Market, the Government has an initiative and wants to replace millions of petrol-powered tricycles with electric ones as part of its efforts to clean up the nation's polluting mass transport system, President Benigno Aquino said in a press statement.
But the big question is, are we that ready to have e-trikes in our country? knowing that many tricycle operators and drivers today plight the streets, and yet poverty and air pollution is everywhere.
According to some sources, the government will replace 20,000 tricycles that ply minor streets across the capital Manila and eventually expand the project throughout the country, which counts to around 3.5 million tricycles. According to a recent study, experts say that these emitted around more than 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and burned nearly five billion dollars of fuel yearly.
Thus, it is hoped that the through the efforts of the government, the said scheme will save the impoverished country tens of millions of dollars annually. But how about the tricycle in the rural areas? where it is the only means of transport? For some, the said project is an ambitious multi-year plan to wean public utility vehicles from the use of gasoline and diesel and to encourage them to shift to alternatives like natural gas, electricity and hybrid engines,". But honestly, how much would a e-trike today might cost?
For its supporters this statement might have won their hearts as the President was quoted saying "He would like to see the day when nearly all public utility vehicles... run on alternative fuel, freeing the public transport sector and commuters from the threat of unreasonably high oil prices and unhealthy levels of air pollution." Well, I could say, a good one for the President, atleast, he has an alternative way of facing the fuel crisis today, though for the meantime, he did not give any definite timetable of the programme, which was launched this week when 20 so-called "e-tricycles" hit the streets of a Manila suburb.
Thinking that the said transport sector emissions accounted for 30 percent of all pollution in the Philippines. But how about buses? Jeepneys (thanks for e-jeepneys in makati), and the millions of private vehicles in the country? adding the old and dilapidated vehicles traversing our roads and truly a hazard thing to many.
In Manila alone, vehicle emissions account for 80 percent of all pollution, they even say that "a sizeable proportion of vehicle emissions are attributable to inefficient public transport, particularly from tricycles, jeepneys and buses,"
Literally, we see jeepneys today as a colourful small buses that make up the backbone of the country's chaotic mass transport system, locally assembled using second-hand truck engines and transmission systems imported from Japan.
According to a recent study conducted by ADB, "Every 20,000 e-trikes that are introduced to Manila's streets will save the Philippines 100,000 liters of foreign fuel imports each day, saving the country about 35 million dollars annually." Though the electronic tricycles, which use rechargeable lithium ion batteries, are costlier, older petrol tricycles are more than twice as expensive to operate in the long run, and the carbon footprints of the e-trikes, which are locally produced, would be less than a quarter of conventional tricycles.
LETS JUST ALL HOPE THAT THIS PROJECT WOULD COME TRUE, ABLING THE POOR FILIPINOS TO TASTE AND RIDE A NEW MEANS OF TRANSPORT, NOT ONLY IN MANILA, BUT ALL OVER THE ARCHIPELAGO.
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