Just over the weekend, the government gave indications that they would be considering allowing motorcycle back riding sometime within the next two weeks pending agreements on how to do this properly under the present pandemic situation. This would end months of heated debate between the need to impose preventive measures on the spread of the virus and the reality on the need for mobility of the greater majority.
Motorcycles represent 70 percent of all registered motor vehicles in the country, totaling close to 18 million. The Land Transportation Office estimates another 12 million unregistered units, bringing the total to around 30 million or about a third of our population. It does not need a deep dive to realize these are the utility vehicles of choice of the greater majority, and that any action affecting them would have national socioeconomic as well as political implications.
In the weeks that followed the ban, several local officials spoke in behalf of their constituents for the national government to reconsider. Focus of the request for reconsideration was, at least, to allow family members, especially couples, to be exempted from the ban. The national government remained steadfast on the ban and understandably so, as allowing such a policy on back riding even among family members goes contrary to the need for social distancing, leading to a possible increase in infections. Given the number of motorcycle riders, it would be next to impossible to check each and every ride-sharing individual.
However, the growing demand of the population for more transport options driven by the need for more mobility to pursue economic survivability, especially after the lockdown has been relaxed, has pushed government to rethink its policy banning back riding. Incidents of apprehended ride-sharing family members plus multitudes of passengers without any means of transportation, added to the pressure to allow ride sharing. But such a consideration will need to come along with safety guidelines beyond the mandatory wearing of face masks. This will need to cover general ridership, and that should be without consideration of familial relations. It will be definitely difficult to monitor that such guidelines are followed, but given the economic realities on the ground, the government is hard pressed to move in this direction.
And once this line is crossed, it will not take long for the advocates of the motorcycle ride sharing companies to push for their resumption. Again, economic realities on the ground would provide the reason, with an increasing number of people dependent on these ride sharing companies both as a mode of daily transport as well as a source of livelihood especially in these times of downturn. Even the present legislative obstacle will have to be addressed by the lawmakers immediately given its present relevance. Ride sharing companies would have to give a better safety assurance measures given that they have control over their riders. Mandatory temperature monitoring for the driver and the passenger, mandatory disinfection, as well as mandatory need to provide your own safety helmets is now in their guidelines, once allowed to operate. In addition, the use of a passenger separator, made of safe material separating the driver and the passenger, like the ones being used in other Asian countries, is being seriously considered.
The current pandemic has indeed challenged the safety priorities of the government to combat the virus and the need to address the economic realities of the population. This is very apparent in the issue of motorcycle back riding. Prioritizing safety and addressing economic considerations will always come to a head. Calculated as it will be, it will also be a leap of faith into the unknown. The only assurance then would be the continuing interaction, even debate between government and the population, precisely the ingredients that led to this reconsideration of allowing motorcycle back riding despite the dangers it might pose; that would preserve the long term and eventual survivability of the state even despite this pandemic.
Thomas “Tim” Orbos was formerly with the DOTr and the MMDA. He is an alumnus of the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University and the MIT Sloan School of Management. He can be reached via e-mail at thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu