The Quezon City government is now coming out with its innovation in protecting bikers using bike lanes through plant boxes that serve as barriers.

Aside from expanding the network of bike lanes, the local government through its Green Transport Office is now using plant boxes as dividers to better the lives of cyclists in the city, with some of these concrete plant boxes along major thoroughfares like Katipunan Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue are already installed. 

It serves two main purposes: protecting cyclists on the bike lane and adding some greenery around the city, which are slightly more aesthetic than the usual concrete or plastic barriers.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte promised that QCitizens will be seeing more protected bike lanes and pedestrian pathways this year.

Quezon City was hailed as the Most Bicycle-Friendly City in the Philippines during the third edition of the Mobility Awards 2023. Quezon City bagged the Gold Award for the first time while Iloilo and Baguio cities were also recognized among the country's most bike-friendly cities.

The Green Transport Office, however, is encouraging the public to help support this new initiative and to refrain from destroying, vandalizing, or in any way abusing the new plant boxes. 

P1 billion from Congress

Meanwhile, Quezon City Fourth District House of Representatives Marvin Rillo, vice chairperson of the House committee on Metro Manila Development, said Congress has raised P1 billion the fresh funding for the Active Transport and Safe Pathways Program (ATSPP).

"In the 2024 General Appropriations Law, we bumped up to P1 billion the budget for bicycle lanes with durable physical separation from mixed traffic lanes," Rillo, also a member of the House appropriations committee, said.

"The amount is double the P500 million that the Department of Budget and Management had requested when it first submitted the budget for congressional approval," Rillo said.

"This is our way of reassuring Filipinos that cycling is a sustainable alternative mode of mobility. We are absolutely determined to promote cycling and lessen harmful motor vehicle emissions in the interest of public health,"  Rillo added.

The P1 billion in new funding for the ATSPP is lodged in the 2024 budget of the Department of Transportation.

The sum is on top of the P705 million and P2 billion earmarked for the program in 2023 and 2022, respectively, according to Rillo.

The ATSPP has so far put up 564 kilometers of bicycle lanes throughout Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao as of June 2023.

The DOTr projects the country's bicycle lane network to reach 2,400 kilometers by 2028. The ATSPP bankrolls the construction, maintenance, and improvement of protected bicycle lanes and pedestrian walkways in metropolitan areas, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities.