DAGUPAN CITY — An ambitious plan to make tricycle drivers serve also as tourist guides was bared by Mayor Belen Fernandez in a meeting Tuesday with officials of various tricycle groups in the city.
Fernandez said the move is part of the program “Oplan Zero Colorum” launched by the Public Order and Safety Office (POSO) against tricycle units that have no franchises and decal stickers.
The campaign has led to the impounding of some 130 units during the past two weeks.
She said only units with issued franchises will be allowed to ply the various thoroughfares of the city and only drivers of franchised units will be trained in guiding tourists, particularly on rules on elementary courtesies, so that they can effectively deal with local and foreign visitors who they bring to various tourist spots in the city such as the Tondaligan Beach.
The move, she said, will be a big boost to the tourism program of the local government that aims to make the Tondaligan Beach one of the best tourist destinations in the country.
Fernandez also ordered the POSO headed by Carlito Ocampo to require tricycle drivers starting October 2 to wear their uniform – color blue on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; green on Tuesdays and Thursdays; and casual wear on Saturdays and Sundays.
The uniform of drivers would easily identify the franchised tricycles from the colorums, she added.
Meanwhile, the plight of drivers of colorum tricycles is also being considered as POSO is now referring them to various employers in and outside the city.
At the same time, officials of various tricycle associations expressed their desire to ask the city government to still allow colorum tricycles to operate but limited to their respective barangays and not along the main thoroughfares so they can still earn income for their families.
There are 2,500 franchised tricycles in the city, the number of which was determined in an ordinance passed by the Dagupan City Council.
All of these are affiliated with the Federation of Accredited Tricycle Association of Dagupan (FATODAG) and the City Federation of Drivers and Operators Association (CITYFED). PNA-northboundasia.com