Trikes out

With a looming ban on tricycles from transporting students in Metro Manila, city trike drivers and operators may need to be creative to avoid losing their school-going customers.

A demonstration can be staged at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to force it to revise its regulation that only vans, mini-buses, coasters, coaches and buses are allowed to transport students. If that won’t work, a modified sidecar can disguise the trike as a van.

The trike driver may also ask schoolchildren not to wear their uniforms when they get on board and change outfit after they are dropped off to school.

One reason the LTFRB disqualifies trikes as a school transport service is that its passengers are not covered by accident insurance. Trike drivers or operators may consider lending smaller helmets to student passengers or providing them with P20,000 worth of life insurance that can be bought from a popular pawnshop for only P40 in monthly premium.