With daily commute almost impossible due to the suspension of public transportation during the community quarantine period, public utility drivers were displaced – and the COVID-19 pandemic posed not only danger to health, but posed uncertainties to livelihood as well.

Everything almost stopped when the entire island of Luzon was placed on enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) last March 17, 2020. With commuters comprising 70% of the total trips in the National Capital Region (NCR), it is with no doubt that Filipinos heavily rely on public transportation to go to work and even buy essential goods – a truth that has become a way of life even in Valenzuela City.

Valenzuela City’s terrain, usually built with narrow roads with identified convergence points, has its tricycle operations as a way of public commuting etched on every Valenzuelano’s lifestyle. The City also has an estimate of 8,000 tricycle drivers with 40 routes or Tricycle Operators and Drivers’ Association (TODA). This alone means that around 8,000 tricycle drivers were displaced in this COVID-19 pandemic.

Thankfully, the City Government of Valenzuela signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with JoyRide and Happy Move PH this May 29, 2020 at the Valenzuela City Blood Bank and Volunteer Center Conference Room, paving a better outlook on what lies ahead for tricycle drivers as their operations resume with a reduced capacity based on an odd-even number coding scheme in the City.

JoyRide and Happy Move is a technology company which operates and maintains an online platform or mobile application for delivery, transportation and pabili service (purchase service).

The tricycle drivers, headed by their TODA presidents, will be registered to the app’s platform in the next coming weeks and will be trained on how to use the app so they can now accept online bookings.

PasaBVY Valenzuela City TODA program enables tricycle drivers to buy goods to be delivered to Valenzuela City-based customers using JoyRide and Happy Move’s mobile platform. The City Government of Valenzuela will give funds to the driver for them to buy the goods so they will not shell out money from their own pockets. The fund can be transferred through GCash or PayMaya. A delivery fee is also charged which is a driver’s income for every transaction completed.

“Malaking tulong talaga… Para hindi na rin kami pasanin ni Mayor. Itong nakakabyahe kami ng MECQ malaking bagay talaga, kumbaga ingat lang talaga, [It is really a big help… We will not add to Mayor’s burden anymore. It is really a huge help that we can now operate during the MECQ, just always be careful],” Gen. T. De Leon-Ugong (GTU) TODA President Luis Jugueta, shared.

Since the MECQ was placed in Metro Manila, Valenzuela City released guidelines on the resumption of operations of pedicabs and tricycles with a limited capacity of strictly, one passenger per vehicle. An odd-even number coding scheme is also observed.

With this program, tricycle drivers whose numbers are not allowed to ply the roads on a specific day can operate as a JoyRide and Happy Move driver.

“We can help a lot [of tricycle drivers] here. First, this is an additional means of income for the drivers. Second, we can also help stores who now has limited operations,” Mayor REX Gatchalian said.

“What is important now is that we can find ways to help our drivers and offer a new alternative on how we can help them transition into the new normal,” he added.