Businesses required to provide waiting areas for customers

City officials are now requiring business establishments in the city to allocate waiting areas in their parking lots for delivery riders who transport the orders of the residents who opt to avail of their services as part of the ongoing transition to the better normal.

Under Resolution No. 120, series of 2-22, local legislators requested the City Engineering Office–Transportation and traffic Management Division (CEO-TTMD) and the Baguio City Traffic and Transportation Technical Working Group (BCTTWG) to identify waiting areas for the riders to wait for the orders of their customers from the establishments for delivery to their destinations without undue delay and without being apprehended by law enforcers assigned to implement existing traffic laws, rules and regulations, especially in the central business district area.

Earlier, the council adopted Resolution No. 094, series of 2022, urging the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO), the City Public Order and Safety Division under the City Mayor’s Office, and the deputized Anti-Road Obstruction enforcers to give a 10-minute leeway to all delivery riders in the city to deliver the orders of their customers and finish their errands so that they will not be charged for illegal parking or obstruction along roads in the different parts of the city. 

However, in a letter dated March 9, 2022, Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong returned the aforesaid resolution without his signature for reasons that if implemented, the situation will cause more conflict on the ground and that the 10-minute leeway time is difficult to monitor and does not suffice for bulk orders, thus, also susceptible to abuse which will ultimately cause heated arguments between enforcers and the concerned riders. Instead, the local chief executive recommended for the city to require all the business establishments utilizing the services of the said riders to allocate spaces in their parking lots as waiting areas or allow the BCTTG and CEO-TTMD to identify waiting areas for the riders. – Dexter A. See