By Bhaby De Castro

 

BATANGAS CITY, Philippines (PIA) — The Batangas City government is advancing its E-Trike Initiative Program which will deploy 10 e-trike units to support the city’s free ride service amid the rising fuel cost.

As part of the initiative, the local government conducted a study to ensure that the free ride program will not negatively impact the operations and income of tricycle drivers while still benefiting commuters.

Five of the e-trike units will be assigned to selected routes in the Solid North, Solid East, Solid Baybay, Solid Upland, and Solid Poblacion clusters, operating from 4:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., and again in the afternoon until evening.

The program aims to assist early commuters such as city employees, students, and residents transporting goods to the town proper, as well as those traveling home later in the day.

Each e-trike unit is also equipped with a spare battery, allowing continuous operation without the need for downtime due to charging.

Prior to this, the city government launched its walk-to-work and bike-to-work programs, encouraging employees to walk or cycle to work as a response to rising fuel prices.

In line with these efforts, 10 employees who joined the walk-to-work program received new shoes, while 10 bicycles were raffled off to participants of the bike-to-work initiative.

Mayor Marvey Marino said the city government continues to seek solutions to help ease the burden of high fuel costs on the public.

“We will not stop finding ways to ease the challenges we face. We only ask for everyone’s cooperation so we can overcome these trials together. If we work as one, we can get through this,” Marino said.

Earlier, 10 employees received new shoes and another 10 received bicycles when the program was launched on April 13, 2026. (MPDC-PIA Batangas)