There’s going to be a new kid in town, or a new king of the road, if you will.
PediGrab (recently renamed Pedicrab), an Italian-made tricycle with the tuk-tuk design that is popular in Thailand and India, may be the next good thing to come to Dumaguete.
This proposal, which is still being considered at the City Council, has been getting favorable opinions from the riding public.
It is no secret that the tricycle service in Dumaguete has left much to be desired these days, as passengers are being fleeced by tricycle drivers negotiating for higher fares, in violation of their franchises. Pila imong hatag? is a usual question one hears when a commuter tells the tricycle driver his destination.
The stories get more scary when you hear passengers talk about their experience in riding tricycles from the Sibulan airport just 2.5 kilometers away, or just halfway from the seaport, with some drivers reportedly demanding for several hundreds of pesos for a ride into the City.
Such stories are so common these days that the only people who are shocked by them are those who experience it for the first time.
We’ve now gone beyond the blaming stage as to why we have allowed ourselves to come to this situation. After all, drivers are voters, er, they also have families to feed.
So the way forward is to introduce a better public utility scheme in Dumaguete that will not displace our tricycle drivers.
Dumaguete has changed a lot these past few years. More and more people live farther from the commercial area, and would need a more efficient public utility service. Until now, however, we have yet to hear of any serious proposals for mass transit.
Meanwhile, tricycles should adapt, and level up.
Change is always difficult. But hey, didn’t people just recently vote for candidates who promised that change is coming?
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