City councilor pushes for higher penalties on bike lane obstructors

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

A member of the Iloilo City council on Wednesday filed a proposed ordinance seeking to amend existing rules by raising penalties on motorists parking and driving along the city’s bike lanes.

Councilor Jose Maria Miguel Treñas filed proposed amendments to City Regulation Ordinance Nos. 2016-299 and 2020-084.

These ordinances regulate cycling along Benigno Aquino Jr. Avenue (Diversion Road) in Mandurriao district and the University Loop lanes along General Luna Street in City Proper and Molo districts, respectively.

Both ordinances, according to Treñas, impose a ₱2,000 fine on drivers of motorized vehicles who drive on the bike lanes, as well as persons who “create any obstruction and excavation”.

The proposed amendments seek to increase the penalties to ₱5,000, which Treñas says would hopefully discourage motorists from blocking cyclists and bike commuters who use the bike lanes regularly.

The councilor said that these proposed amendments were a result of his own observations, particularly in the City Proper bike lanes along General Luna, Quezon, and Mabini streets.

He added that they could not go any higher than ₱5,000, even if there would be subsequent calls for the increase in penalties.

“Whenever we go around City Proper and Molo [districts], [we find] many vehicles parking on the bike lanes. Maybe this would also be a way to limit illegal parking there. We will implement a ₱5,000 [penalty] so that it would hurt them a little bit when they park on the bike lanes,” Treñas told the media.

The full text of the proposals is not yet available, and Treñas’ office told Daily Guardian that their draft is still being finalized, in time for its hearing with the council’s Committee on Transportation.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, the councilor’s father, has pushed to label the city as the nation’s “bike capital”, and the Mobility Awards-led ‘Friday Bike Counts’ in June 2022 logged a daily average of 22,114 total number of cyclists in Iloilo City.