WITH the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) rejecting Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto’s request to allow tricycle service around the locale, telling him to be ‘more creative’, Pasig was quick to respond with zero-emission shuttles to offer ‘libreng sakay’ to health frontliners and city personnel.

The city, in partnership with Global Electric Transport (GET), will provide two COMET electric vehicles that will operate from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m., and 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., with a designated route.

COMETs would proceed from Pasig City Hall to Sheridan, and would pass by Rizal Medical Center then back to Pasig proper, the main city hall, and Pinagbuhatan.

Continue reading below ↓

Continue reading below ↓ Recommended Videos

“[The e-vehicle is] really helpful for the environment because as a zero-emission vehicle, it doesn’t release any of the harmful pollutants or greenhouse gases that a typical diesel engine would, such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide or particulate matter,” Kylie Tinga, Sustainable Transport Specialist of GET, told SPIN Life.

The private company has offered a complete service team with drivers, free of charge, to Pasig City.

Continue reading below ↓

Following the social distancing protocol, each ride can accommodate 10 passengers onboard at any given time. (In non-emergency use, it has a maximum capacity of 20 seated and 10 standing passengers.)

Tinga explained that every shuttle is disinfected and properly sanitized.

Tinga added: “After every ride the vehicle is sterilized as per the standards of the Pasig city government, and the vehicle is not allowed to depart until it has been deemed appropriately sanitized. The driver and conductor of each trip keep a vigilant tally of the number of people onboard at any given time, and the seats have been marked to indicate the appropriate distance passengers must keep from each other.”

Meanwhile, the city of Manila has also deployed a network of 189 e-trikes for medical personnel.