Tricycle

Also known as: Motorized tricycle · Traysikel · Trike · Tricycle-for-hire · Motorela (Northern Mindanao variant) · Kuliglig (motorized variant used for farm and transport work)

Automotive

Definition

Tricycle in the Philippine context — Filipino traysikel — is a motorized public transport vehicle consisting of an imported motorcycle fitted with a locally built passenger sidecar, carrying a driver and typically four to six passengers, and operating as the workhorse of short-distance travel in cities, towns, and rural areas where jeepneys do not reach. With the jeepney it ranks among the country’s most common forms of transport, running as shared taxis on per-passenger fares within a locality or chartered for a negotiated “special trip” fare. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines))

Unlike jeepneys, tricycles are regulated not by the national Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board but by local governments: the 1991 Local Government Code devolved the power to grant tricycle franchises, fix fares, and prescribe operating rules to city and municipal councils, whose ordinances and franchise codes govern the country’s fleets. National agencies still set the frame — the Department of the Interior and Local Government issues guiding memorandum circulars, and the Department of Energy has promoted electric tricycles through a large Asian Development Bank-funded program. (Talisay, Batangas — Tricycle Franchise, DILG — Tricycle Franchise Ordinance Guidelines, Rappler — ADB e-Trikes Loan)

Identities

Source Type	Identity
Wikipedia	Motorized tricycle (Philippines)
Wikidata	motorized tricycle (Q6918335)
DBpedia	Motorized tricycle (Philippines)
ProductOntology	N/A
Wiktionary	N/A
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)	Tricycles
MeSH	N/A
NCBI Taxonomy	N/A
AGROVOC	N/A
Google Scholar	motorized tricycle Philippines local public transport franchising e-tricycle electrification
ConceptNet	N/A
OpenCyc	N/A

Also Known As

Motorized tricycle
Traysikel
Trike
Tricycle-for-hire
Motorela (Northern Mindanao variant)
Kuliglig (motorized variant used for farm and transport work)

Examples and Analogies

A motorcycle with a living room bolted on: Builders construct an enclosed sidecar — roof, bench seats, sometimes a covered driver’s canopy — onto a Japanese motorcycle chassis, producing a vehicle that behaves like a shared taxi the size of a large refrigerator. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines))
The jeepney’s little sibling: The motorela of Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon — a centered enclosed cabin with four wheels and sideways seating invented in 1964 by Rafael D. Floirendo — is locally nicknamed the “mini jeepney.” (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines))
A pickup in miniature: The cargo version, garong or kolong-kolong (“cage-like”), swaps the passenger cab for a flat bed of welded pipe and sheet metal and hauls fish, vegetables, water containers, and livestock through markets. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines))
A franchise from city hall: Where a bus operator petitions a national regulator for a route, a tricycle operator petitions the sangguniang bayan — the municipality is the franchising authority under Section 447 of the Local Government Code. (Talisay, Batangas — Tricycle Franchise, LawPhil — Republic Act No. 7160)

Usage Scenarios

1. Last-Mile Local Transport

Tricycles connect residential interiors, markets, schools, and terminals along routes too thin for jeepneys, charging per passenger on shared runs; fares range from roughly ₱10 to ₱250 depending on locality and distance. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines))

2. Chartered and Special Trips

For longer or out-of-route journeys, passengers negotiate a “special fare” for exclusive hire, making the tricycle a de facto taxi in towns without cabs. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines))

3. Cargo Hauling

Kolong-kolong flat-bed units move goods in markets and farms, a freight niche motorcycles and jeepneys do not serve. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines))

4. Electrification Pilot

Electric tricycles — from locally built units to the BEMAC 68VM deployed under the DOE-ADB project — operate in several cities as quieter, lower-emission replacements for two-stroke fleets. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines), Inquirer — DOE-ADB e-Trike Deal)

Strategies

Devolve franchising to LGUs: Section 447(3)(vi) of the Local Government Code authorizes sangguniang bayan and sangguniang panlungsod to grant tricycle franchises and fix rates within their territories, with implementing guidelines issued through LTO Memorandum Circular 94-199 after the Code took effect. (Talisay, Batangas — Tricycle Franchise, LTO — Memorandum Circular No. 94-199, LawPhil — Republic Act No. 7160)
Standardize local codes through DILG guidance: The Department of the Interior and Local Government issues circulars guiding cities and municipalities in drafting and reviewing tricycle and pedicab franchise ordinances, including rules on franchises, routes, and the use of public roads. (DILG — Tricycle Franchise Ordinance Guidelines)
Electrify the fleet at scale: The DOE’s “Market Transformation through Introduction of Energy Efficient Electric Vehicles” program, backed by a US$300 million ADB loan approved in 2012, targeted the replacement of 100,000 gasoline tricycles with e-trikes over five years. (Rappler — ADB e-Trikes Loan, ADB — Energy Efficient Electric Vehicles Project)
Localize manufacturing: Japan’s Uzushio Electric (parent of BEMAC) won the contract to produce and service the first e-trike batches, anchoring local assembly of electric units. (Inquirer — DOE-ADB e-Trike Deal)

Security and Safety Measures

Passenger and loading limits: DILG-backed standards instruct LGUs to bar tricycles-for-hire from carrying more passengers and goods than they are designed for, the most basic rule of local franchise codes. (DILG — Tricycle Franchise Ordinance Guidelines)
Franchise enforcement at the local level: Only operators holding municipal franchises may run tricycle-for-hire services, and franchise codes prescribe penalties — the local equivalent of national colorum enforcement. (Talisay, Batangas — Tricycle Franchise)
Highway restrictions: Tricycle operation is restricted on national highways, with vehicle-classification rules determining access — a 2020 LTO memorandum reclassified Indian-built tuk-tuks as three-wheelers rather than tricycles, exempting them from the tricycle highway ban and illustrating the rules’ sensitivity to classification. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines))
Occupational safety lists for enforcement: DILG Memorandum Circular 2022-047 tasked LGUs to validate and submit lists of compliant tricycle drivers and operators, tying enforcement to documented compliance. (DILG — Tricycle Franchise Ordinance Guidelines)

Historical Context

The Philippine tricycle appeared after World War II, most plausibly derived from the Rikuo Type 97 — a licensed Harley-Davidson with sidecar used by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1941 — or, on an alternate account, from the human-powered trisikad fitted with an engine. The formula of imported motorcycle plus locally fabricated sidecar proved endlessly adaptable, spawning passenger variants like the 1964 motorela of Northern Mindanao and cargo variants like the kolong-kolong. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines))

The 1991 Local Government Code made the tricycle the country’s principal experiment in devolved transport regulation, transferring franchising from the national LTFRB to city and municipal councils; LTO Memorandum Circular 94-199 of May 2, 1994 operationalized the transfer, and DILG circulars continue to guide local franchise codes. In 2012 the Asian Development Bank approved a US$300 million loan for the DOE’s e-trike program targeting 100,000 electric tricycles; BEMAC’s parent Uzushio Electric won the initial supply contract, but by 2018 the Department of Energy was seeking an inquiry into the stalled rollout of thousands of units. (Talisay, Batangas — Tricycle Franchise, LTO — Memorandum Circular No. 94-199, Rappler — ADB e-Trikes Loan, Inquirer — DOE-ADB e-Trike Deal, BusinessMirror — Probe Delay in Rollout of e-Trikes)

Challenges and Controversies

Fragmented Regulation Across 1,000-Plus LGUs

Because every city and municipality issues its own franchise ordinance, fares, rules, and capacity standards differ from town to town — a fragmentation the DILG has tried to temper through model guidelines and review circulars, and which complicates any national policy, from fuel subsidies to electrification. (DILG — Tricycle Franchise Ordinance Guidelines, Talisay, Batangas — Tricycle Franchise)

The e-Trike Program’s Shortfall

The flagship DOE-ADB project targeted 100,000 electric tricycles but suffered procurement delays and a stalled rollout — prompting a 2018 call for a committee probe — while civil society organizations had earlier urged the ADB to withhold loan components, questioning the program’s design. (BusinessMirror — Probe Delay in Rollout of e-Trikes, Rappler — ADB e-Trikes Loan)

Highway Access and Classification Disputes

Restrictions on tricycle use of national highways protect fast-moving traffic from slow three-wheelers but cut through commuter routes; the 2020 reclassification of tuk-tuks to sidestep the ban shows how classification choices, more than engineering, decide access. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines))

Overloading and Safety Culture

Sidecars designed for four to six passengers routinely carry more, and DILG standards against overloading remain the most-cited safety rule in local codes; enforcement varies with each LGU’s traffic office. (Wikipedia — Motorized tricycle (Philippines), DILG — Tricycle Franchise Ordinance Guidelines)