{"id":3074,"date":"2016-08-19T16:37:49","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T08:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/?p=3074"},"modified":"2021-07-06T17:37:21","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T09:37:21","slug":"pedal-power-riding-a-bike-in-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/2016\/08\/19\/pedal-power-riding-a-bike-in-the-philippines\/","title":{"rendered":"Pedal Power: Riding a Bike in the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heavy traffic is a constant problem in the Philippines, especially when you live in Metro Manila. People have gone to so many lengths just to survive the daily commute, such as leaving your house earlier than usual, getting a house near your work, or working from home.<\/span><\/p>\n

People have also taken the matter into their own hands, i.e. getting their own means of transportation; and we\u2019re not talking about four-wheeled vehicles either. Motorbikes have seen a surge thanks to these factors: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf No garage needed<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Big savings especially on fuel<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Great for daily trips to and from the office<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Virtually immune to heavy traffic<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Parking is almost a non-issue<\/span><\/p>\n

The only downside that you\u2019ll have with motorbikes is that you\u2019ll have to put up with drivers who are not used to sharing the road with bikes. This gives you a higher chance of being involved in an accident.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BBC\"<\/p>\n

THE BAYAW BICYCLE CLUB. An online video series formed by television network TV5 personalities Jun Sabayton, RA Rivera, Ramon Bautista, and Lourd De Veyra, they go around the streets of Metro Manila to promote bikes as a form of transportation. (Photo grabbed from <\/em>ValleyBikes<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, there another that certain groups have been advocating: riding a bicycle. It\u2019s an even more low profile means of travelling to and from work, with the same, if not better, advantages compared to any motorized vehicle:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf No garage necessary<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf No fuel cost<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Low maintenance (just make sure everything is clean)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Good for short trips to work<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Virtually immune to heavy traffic<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf No parking issues<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf No \u201cI\u2019m out of fuel\u201d issues<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Free workout (goodbye, flab!)<\/span><\/p>\n

It may not be a part of mainstream transportation, but there are people who ride their bike to and from work, even in the busy streets of Metro Manila. It\u2019s a scary proposition, mostly because of these issues:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf No bike lanes. <\/em>Bike lanes are scarce in Metro Manila. EDSA only has a couple of stretches of bike lanes, located between MRT3 Magallanes and Ayala Stations, and the stretch between Santolan and Ortigas Station. Beyond that, bikers have to make do with pedestrian lanes or worse: take to the streets where you\u2019re almost invisible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Car doors. <\/em>The general public is not used to the bike as a form of transportation. They look at it as something that kids would use for transport, or as a way for adults to stay fit. It\u2019s hard enough to ride a bike along EDSA; it\u2019s even harder when you get to your destination only to have a car park in front of you, open its door, and slam into it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Exposure to everything. <\/em>Just like with a motorbike, you\u2019re exposed to the elements. However, unlike a motorbike, you don\u2019t have the luxury of putting on a raincoat, lest it gets caught in your chain. That\u2019s not the worst part, though; it\u2019s far worse when you realize you\u2019ll be constantly bombarded with smoke from all sorts of vehicles, though buses and jeeps are particularly painful to ride next to.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Pedestrians. <\/em>Yes, there are no bike lanes in Metro Manila, which means you\u2019re forced onto the sidewalk. This means having to dodge people who sometimes are not aware of their surroundings: listening to music, texting, taking\/making a call, talking to their friend, or trying to catch them all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf You\u2019ll likely be a daytime-only biker. <\/em>No matter how many reflectors you have, it seems motorists have no way of seeing you\u2026 even with their headlights on high beam. You might as well carry a neon sign that tells people where you are on the road, or be lit up like a Christmas tree.<\/span><\/p>\n

So why still take that bike to work? Well, for one the pros still outweigh the cons. You\u2019ll also get used to riding your bike in the city so much you\u2019ll find alternate routes to get around the cons. Your lungs may hate the smog, but it will thank you later when you have to rush to that meeting on foot. You can also say goodbye to any unsightly fat thanks to the exercise.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s House Bill 3827, or the Bicyclist Act of 2014. Filed by Pasay City Rep. Emi Calixto-Rubiano, it seeks to establish Local Bikeway Offices (LBO) in every city and municipality in the country to promote the use of bikes. It hasn\u2019t been touched as of late, but groups like Bike To Work Pilipinas<\/a> have been advocating bike-use not just as a means to better health, but as a true alternative form of transportation as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the Duterte administration looking to further decongest the city, it may only be a matter of time before they looked into this bill. Only time will tell if bikes would become mainstream in the Philippines.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

S<\/em>ource: <\/em>Looloo Insights<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>GMA News Online<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Rappler<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heavy traffic is a constant problem in the Philippines, especially when you live in Metro Manila. People have gone to so many lengths just to survive the daily commute, such as leaving your house earlier than usual, getting a house near your work, or working from home. People have also taken the matter into their own hands, i.e. getting their own means of transportation; and we\u2019re not talking about four-wheeled vehicles either. Motorbikes have seen a surge thanks to these factors: \u25cf No garage needed \u25cf Big savings especially on fuel \u25cf Great for daily trips to and from the office \u25cf Virtually immune to heavy traffic \u25cf Parking is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1729],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-everyday-life-hacks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3074"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9330,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions\/9330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}