if there are "bikers" that people in car-centric city hates, they are probably the pedicab drivers.
pedicabs are what to developed nations are CARGO bikes. like the christiania or nihola or bakfiets, only that in pedicabs the "box" is attached on the side, not the front. this is not for lack of imagination but mainly for two things: 1. without retrofitting the box into the whole bike frame, one actually retains the actual look of the bike; one can easily detach the third wheel for solo, private rides; 2. having the boxes on the side makes better for maneuverability (especially in doing sharp turns) in typically narrow old Filipino streets.
their size, when on the road, makes it almost impossible for SUVs to overtake. most of the pedicab drivers are citizens from the lower income brackets. in our neighborhood, our well-loved and well-trusted pedicab driver is a homeless man.
as of the present, the service of these pedicabs are restricted to "barangay/village roads". they are never allowed to ply through the national highways or those roads considered major thoroughfares by the
motorists.
several attempts have been made to ban these pedicabs from using the streets but they keep on coming back. the planners only attribute the pedicabs' stubbornness to the fact that the pedicab bikers have no other source of income but pedicab driving, little do they consider that these pedicabs exist because there are people who need them. seldom do people also associate use of pedicabs to GREEN TRANSPORT. the only popular go-green method in transportation that many people know of is converting to prius or using unleaded fuel to power the deadly killing machines called cars. But no, never once did pedicabs ring a bell.
it's time we changed how we look at the humble pedicab. make them more useful on the road.
pedicabs are what to developed nations are CARGO bikes. like the christiania or nihola or bakfiets, only that in pedicabs the "box" is attached on the side, not the front. this is not for lack of imagination but mainly for two things: 1. without retrofitting the box into the whole bike frame, one actually retains the actual look of the bike; one can easily detach the third wheel for solo, private rides; 2. having the boxes on the side makes better for maneuverability (especially in doing sharp turns) in typically narrow old Filipino streets.
their size, when on the road, makes it almost impossible for SUVs to overtake. most of the pedicab drivers are citizens from the lower income brackets. in our neighborhood, our well-loved and well-trusted pedicab driver is a homeless man.
as of the present, the service of these pedicabs are restricted to "barangay/village roads". they are never allowed to ply through the national highways or those roads considered major thoroughfares by the
motorists.
several attempts have been made to ban these pedicabs from using the streets but they keep on coming back. the planners only attribute the pedicabs' stubbornness to the fact that the pedicab bikers have no other source of income but pedicab driving, little do they consider that these pedicabs exist because there are people who need them. seldom do people also associate use of pedicabs to GREEN TRANSPORT. the only popular go-green method in transportation that many people know of is converting to prius or using unleaded fuel to power the deadly killing machines called cars. But no, never once did pedicabs ring a bell.
it's time we changed how we look at the humble pedicab. make them more useful on the road.
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| shooting, as a pedicab passenger. |
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| shooting at the driver. his muscles strained to gather as much strength as possible to get three passengers (total weight at least 150 kilograms) from point A to B. |
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