THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) believes it may be time for employers to consider providing incentives and subsidies to employees who bike to work to encourage more Filipinos to consider alternative transport.
In a statement, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said if companies provide car plans or shuttle services, they can also consider providing incentives for employees who use alternative transportation such as bicycles.
Chua said promoting sustainable and inclusive mobility is in line with the National Transport Policy that encourages local government units and national agencies to give priority to development of proper sidewalks and networks of bicycle lanes.
“We are also inviting the private sector to contribute to this alternative transport movement by providing end-of-trip facilities such as bike parking spaces and showers areas for employees who bike or walk to work,” Chua said.
Chua said promoting cycling and building protected bike lanes can augment public transportation and help people safely get to work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Quoting 2020 data from Social Weather Stations and Department of Health (DOH), Neda said 87 percent of Filipinos agree that roads in cities will be better if public transportation, bikes and pedestrians are prioritized.
Proof of this, Neda said, is the increase in bicycle imports to 2.1 million units or by 112 percent in 2020 from 1 million in 2019.
“Neda supports the initiatives of the Department of Health, Department of Transportation, Department of Public Works and Highways, and Department of the Interior and Local Government to work together to build protected bike lanes around the National Capital Region,” Chua said.
“We are one with the various national agencies and local government units in their concerted efforts to increase mobility of people as we carefully reopen the economy. The current bike lane design provides significant protection to the growing number of cyclists, myself included,” he added.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) indicate that the land transport sector contracted 30.7 percent in 2020, more than three times worse than overall GDP.
Chua said due to large economic linkages, a sharp contraction in transportation can significantly bring down the rest of the economy.
He added that reduced vehicle capacities have also led to a land transport shortage, leading to a spike in passenger road transport inflation, to 9.6 percent in 2020 from 2.6 percent in 2019.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has hurt the economy, especially the transport sector. The community quarantines and physical distancing regulations that help protect lives inadvertently reduced transport supply and resulted in public transport shortages,” Chua said.
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