PH's 1st Solar-Powered Bike Pit Stop Opens in San Juan

 The country's first solar-powered bike pit stop and repair station in San Juan City is now officially open to the public.

San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora said the biking facility, though located within the premises of the city hall, is open to all bikers.

"We will station people here, everyday in the morning until the curfew ends," he said.

The city government inaugurated the biking facility Wednesday.

It has earlier inked a sponsorship agreement with its private partner, Allianz PNB Life Insurance Inc. to pursue the biking initiative.

Zamora said the agreement involved the installation of hundreds of safety bollards in major biking areas within the city to ensure safe lanes for bikers.

The construction of the pit stop includes the building of bike parking areas, bikers' resting area along with a small footprint bike repair station complete with hanger arms, repair tools, and air pump.

Various safety signages and more bicycle lanes were also built.

The city government also launched the bike-sharing program allowing its city hall employees to borrow from around 105 bikes.

Zamora said each employee is allowed to borrow a bike for one week. To allow more employees to avail of the bike-sharing program, he said the city government targets to add more bicycles by 2021.

He assured that the bikers can safely roam around the city with an established bike-friendly environment while public transportation is still limited due to the pandemic.

"It is a holistic progressive approach on how to change this city," he said.

The Mobility Awards has earlier named San Juan, Pasig, and Marikina as the most bicycle-friendly cities, transport and sustainability advocates in Metro Manila.

Zamora said the city government continues to ensure that the residents are strictly following the mandatory safety measures and health protocols.

Deployment of the Bike Patrollers

Zamora said the strict implementation of quarantine protocols including the wearing of face masks and shields as well as the city's anti-spitting ordinance are closely monitored.

"Ang isang dahilan kung bakit 48 cases lang ho ang Covid-19 dito sa San Juan ay dahil sa ating police bike patrol (One reason why we have only 48 Covid-19 cases here in San Juan is because of the deployment of our police bike patrol)," Zamora said.

Bike patrollers are tasked to secure the safety of the bikers and maintain the bike lanes as well as to oversee the imposition of health protocols.

Zamora said police bike patrollers and traffic enforcers are equipped with body cameras.

"It's one of the reasons why people follow our ordinances because they know that the city government is strictly monitoring," Zamora said.