e-Bikes – a collective term used for electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers, are now banned on many major thoroughfares. This comes after the Metro Manila Council (MMC), through the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), passed a resolution prohibiting the use of major thoroughfares for certain types of transportation and other types of conveyances.

MMDA Regulation No. 24-022 series of 2024, traversing of e-vehicles, such as e-bikes and e-trikes, as well as tricycles, pedicabs, pushcarts, and kuligligs on national roads, circumferential, and radial roads in Metro Manila will be prohibited.

The prohibition shall be enforced on the following roads in Metro Manila which are under the jurisdiction of the MMDA:

C1: Recto Avenue

C2: Pres. Quirino Avenue

C3: Araneta Avenue

C4: EDSA

C5: Katipunan/CP Garcia

C6: Southeast Metro Manila Expressway

R1: Roxas Boulevard

R2: Taft Avenue

R3: SLEX

R4: Shaw Boulevard

R5: Ortigas Avenue

R6: Magsaysay Blvd./Aurora Blvd.

R7: Quezon Ave./Commonwealth Ave.

R8: A. Bonifacio Ave.

R9: Rizal Ave.

R10: Del Pan/Marcos Highway/McArthur Highway

Elliptical Road

Mindanao Avenue

Marcos Highway

MMDA Acting Chairman, Atty. Don Artes, said that the fines for those who will violate the prohibition will be PHP 2,500. A driver’s license shall also be required for those who will drive electric-powered motor vehicles and tricycles. Those who cannot present their driver’s license upon apprehension shall be subject to impoundment of their respective vehicles.

“Due to the proliferation of e-vehicles, the MMC deemed it imperative to regulate and penalize those who will traverse the national roads using such means of transportation,” he said, in a press conference.

Artes said the primary consideration in passing the resolution is concern for the safety, not just of e-vehicle users, but of other motorists, as well.

“We are not totally banning the use of e-vehicles; we just want to regulate it since it has been a common cause of traffic and road crash incidents,” he emphasized.

Last year alone, the MMDA registered 554 road crash incidents involving e-vehicles.

“We won’t wait for these figures to blow up before we regulate it considering the increasing number of users of these kinds of vehicles,” Artes said.

The regulation is set to be implemented in April following an information and awareness campaign. Meanwhile, each Metro Manila local government unit will craft its respective ordinances for the secondary and other inner roads under their jurisdiction.

San Juan City Mayor and MMC president Francis Zamora, for his part, said that the NCR local chief executives will ensure that the ordinances to be passed relative to the regulation will be unified to avoid confusion. Malabon City Mayor Jeannie Sandoval has also expressed support for the regulation and its effective implementation.