The Versatile Philippine Tricycle

Looking for a cheap ride that will drop one off at the exact address? A cab is too expensive and a jeepney will only go so far. A bus won’t fit in alleys. So what’s the remaining option? A tricycle ride.

The tricycle is a Philippine transportation vehicle that rules inner roads and alleys. Well, on second thought, it rules even highways at times. It can go from one street corner to the next, or one town to the next, or one city to the next. There are times when it goes from province to province. Why not, when in fact it is actually a motorcycle?

When the tricycle was first used as a Philippine transportation vehicle, no one seems to know. A few claim they hadn’t seen the thing before the Japanese time. Many aver tricycles started appearing on the road scene after World War II. Others declare it almost co-existed with the converted GI army jeeps. Accordingly, excess body parts left after the conversions were used to assemble sidecars attached to motorcycles, and thus the “tricycle” that has been known since in Philippine transportation.

The tricycle is a Philippine transportation vehicle that is so versatile. It is adaptable in rural and urban applications. It can serve passengers rain or shine. It can take one to several street corners, the next town, or even the next city or province for the right contract fare. Tricycles are known to rule even national highways.

For instance, they are seen amid MacArthur Highway leading a train of cars, buses, and trucks behind them, which often cannot overtake and have to keep pace with them. This Philippine transportation three-wheeled vehicle can traverse highways, city streets, inner roads, alleys, dirt paths, and even in places where there are no identifiable pathways. Tricycles strike anywhere.

Normally, a tricycle can accommodate 4 passengers (including the driver), if safety measures are considered. But often one will see this Philippine transportation vehicle carrying 10 to 20 passengers, mostly daring students or youths, squeezed in the sidecar and at the backseat behind the driver, some hanging from the rear and side of the sidecar and more atop its roof.

This Philippine transportation mini vehicle is often seen carrying loads of market goods, hardware, or furniture and appliances. Tricycles even act as ambulances carrying patients or the injured to hospitals.

Nothing beats the versatile Philippine tricycle, which can be the third wonder of Philippine transportation, following the crazy jeepney and the monstrous traffic.