Alternative Transportation

There are lots of alternative means of transportation in the Philippines. Many places in the country have narrow roads where regular vehicles have a hard time traveling. This is where alternative transport comes in. A motorbike called habal-habal takes on one to four passengers at one go, the driver, rarely having a license, showing off his skills and power maneuvering an overloaded bike in roads impassable by most four or three-wheeled vehicles. There are also tricycles, motorcycles with sidecars attached to the side or the rear, a very common mode of transport in cities, towns, and villages. These tricycles carry usually six passengers excluding the driver, but the driver is more than willing to take in up to 10 passengers. Another alternative ride in the Philippines is the pedicab.

Main coastal road heading towards southern towns of Cebu

The tricycle is sometimes referred to as a pedicab in some regions, but technically, a pedicab is a foot-powered bicycle with a sidecar which at best can carry only two to three passengers. The pedicab is just as common in all regions of the Philippines as the motor-powered tricycle. These two transport contraptions are sources of income for many unskilled Filipinos in the cities, towns, and villages. The calesa with its horse-drawn carriage is the most ancient form of land transportation in the Philippines. Before the Spanish colonizers arrived in the archipelago, carabaos were used to pull bamboo or wood carriages with or without wheels. Calesas are now rarely seen in city streets and even in towns and villages. They have basically become tourist attractions. The fare for all these types of transportation varies according to distance and destination.

Woman and child riding a pedicab along Pangasinan highway

Tricycle Rides
There are places in the city where public buses and public jeepneys have limited access. Interior parts of city streets where four-wheeled vehicles are not allowed to enter have made necessary the use of tricycles – motorcycles with sidecars attached. Tricycles also ply town and village routes. Local tricycle builders try to make these vehicles as artistic as possible, in both design and paint job. The outcome is usually limited by the limitations of the imagination, adorning the tricycles with colorful themes and illustrations. Tricycles are some of the safer means to move around, as most of these tricycles follow particular routes as not to interrupt city traffic.

Tricycle parade

Motorcycle (habal-habal bikes)
Habal-habal bikes or motorcycles that take one to four and sometimes more passengers take people to destinations where four or three-wheeled vehicles cannot access. Daredevil drivers maneuver their bikes loaded with passengers from paved streets to dirt roads in rocky mountainous terrain. Although these rides are truly scary for people who are not used to them, habal-habals are almost always able to deliver passengers in one piece to where they want to be taken. If you are up to it, grab on to your seat, or better still, hold on tight to the person in front of you as these fearless habal-habal drivers take you to wherever you want. Habal-habal fares vary from region to region depending on the distance they cover.

Hold on tight

Pedicabs (Bicycles with sidecars)
Pedicabs are another means of transportation in the streets and dirt roads all over the Philippines. Pedicabs usually cover short distances and feeder trips but longer trips can be arranged. These vehicles take you to places that are not accessible by bigger four-wheel modes of transport. Pedicab operators are required to attach reflectors and tail lights to make their vehicles more noticeable especially at night. Like taxicabs, pedicabs roam around trying to pick up passengers or go to designated terminals to wait. Pedicabs like their distance cousin, the motor-powered tricycles, are one of the major sources of income for unskilled workers in the Philippines. Usually, fare starts at the just-raised minimum of P7 to as high as P10. Special trips with just one or two passengers for the maximum capacity of six (it could carry as many 10 or more) can be arranged. Pedicabs rarely are allowed to travel routes in the main streets of major cities so as not to interrupt the already congested traffic.

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