BAGUIO CITY – The proposed shift from gas or diesel-powered motor vehicles to alternative modes of transport will be beneficial to the people of the city, including the transport sector, because of expected lesser pollution among other direct and indirect benefits, Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said here Wednesday.
The local chief executive said the members of the city’s transport sector should not fear that the on-going pilot test of the solar-powered bus will deprive them of their daily income once the use of the said alternative mode will be proven feasible because they are the ones who will directly benefit from it.
He said included in the on-going pilot test and the study will be the affordability of the solar-powered vehicles so that it will be the ones to be given to the transport sector for consideration to be used in the city that would eventually translate to cleaner air because the solar-powered vehicles do not actually emit smoke.
“We have not yet reached the point of discussing the cost of the solar-powered bus because we are still on the process of testing its capability in the different parts of the city. If the pilot test will generate positive results, then the next step will be to look into the actual cost of the vehicle to ascertain its affordability for the benefit of the members of the transport sector,” Domogan stressed.
The city government approved the earlier request of the Glad to be Green group led by businesswoman Gladys Vergara-de Vera to pilot test the use of the solar-powered bus in the city for the next two months.
The Glad to be Green group was instrumental in the installation of solar-powered bulbs around the Baguio Cathedral as part of the initiative to help promote the use of environmentally-friendly sources of power for the everyday life of the people.
Domogan said that with cleaner air to breathe, people will have better health that will translate to lesser expense in terms of keeping themselves healthy, thus, productivity will be improved.
He admonished critics of the experimental use of the solar-powered bus, saying that the acquisition of franchise will only be applicable when the study on the use of the said alternative will have been proven feasible and beneficial.
According to him, there is nothing wrong in the experimental use of the solar-powered bus because it will generate the interest of the public and its ability to maneuver in the mountainous terrain, thus, its proposed area of operation will be ascertained so as not to be used in steep roads around the city./By Dexter A. See
