The only way to make progress through the rush-hour traffic that clogs Metro Manila’s EDSA, the Philippines’ busiest highway, is to jump on a motorbike.
Zigzagging through gridlocked cars, buses and trucks, more than 86,000 motorcycles pass along this 23km (14-mile) stretch of road in the country’s capital every day. They represent a small fraction of the more than 18 million two-wheelers on the country’s roads.
It was not always like this. Motorbikes only became a favoured mode of transport in the country in the 1990s, during a period of stability following 20 years of dictatorship and two attempted coups d’état, as the economy began to gain traction.
“Some people, and particularly businesses, started looking at motorcycles as a cheaper alternative to cars or trucks,” says Jay Taruc, an entrepreneur and former journalist. “So what you’d usually see then was delivery companies like DHL having fleets of motorcycles.”
According to Taruc, it was too expensive for the average Filipino worker to buy a new motorcycle back then, so private ownership took a while to take off. “They’d rather … save up to buy a car after a few years,” he says.
Only a few diehard enthusiasts with enough cash were wearing leathers and roaring down the roads in the ’90s, he says. “There were already leisure riders then, usually with big bikes like a Harley-Davidson. So you’re either a delivery person or a big biker. There was no in-between.”
Today it’s a different story, and motorcycle fairs and gatherings take place regularly throughout the country. In March, about 4,000 enthusiasts attended Ride PH Café 2020 in Manila, a one-day event organised by Taruc’s production company, the multimedia platform Ride PH. Among the features were an art gallery with work by artist riders, a coffee lounge compete with a disco and DJ playing old classics, and, of course, motorcycles galore.
There were displays of mopeds, adventure bikes, sports bikes, classics and even an art deco vehicle that could be mistaken for a spaceship on wheels.
“We try to incorporate new features in our events to showcase the deep riding culture and subcultures in the Philippines,” Taruc says. “It has everything riders didn’t get to enjoy in the past.”
The range of motorbikes available in the Philippines has expanded considerably over the years. Now, it’s hard to choose which type to buy,” says Taruc, who owns four small motorcycles and three big vehicles.
Things changed in the early 2000s when manufacturers led by the Japanese “Big Four” – Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki – started launching new models in the Philippine market. With the introduction of flexible financing schemes, the industry became ripe for explosive growth.
“When distributors and dealers started offering financing schemes, that’s when a lot more people really started noticing its viability,” says Buck Pago, a photojournalist who also owns a motorcycle repair shop.
The Nouvo had already been available in other countries before it entered the Philippines in the early 2000s. But it changed the landscape because it was one of the first, if not the first, fully automatic motorcycles in the country - Jay Taruc, entrepreneur and motorcyclist
“In the ’90s, the most you could get was probably around six-month instalments,” Pago says. “In the 2000s, they offered weekly payment tranches, sometimes even daily, with almost no down payment.”
The entry of cheaper Taiwanese and Chinese brands also disrupted the market, generating even more interest. “They were really dirt cheap, but back then the quality was very much suspect, so Filipinos still preferred the Japanese brands,” Pago says.
Despite the growing number of cheaper models available to consumers in the early 2000s, none had as much impact as one little scooter, one that led an industry-wide change: the Yamaha Nouvo.
“The Nouvo had already been available in other countries before it entered the Philippines in the early 2000s,” Taruc says. “But it changed the landscape because it was one of the first, if not the first, fully automatic motorcycles in the country. Suddenly, you could learn how to ride fairly easily, even if you had no experience.”
Taruc still has the Nouvo he used in 2006 when he was working on a story for the award-winning local television programme iWitness: The GMA Documentaries.
“I took it to different provinces, and after so many years it still runs great and we use it every day for errands,” he says. “It’s easy to zip in and out of traffic, and easy to park.”
That flexibility and mobility is an important part of why Filipinos love motorcycles. Major Philippine cities enjoyed steady development throughout the 2000s, but the countryside was largely neglected. Country roads, often unpaved, are still difficult to navigate in a car.
Taruc, who travelled widely through the country by bike in 2009 for his groundbreaking documentary television programme The Motorcycle Diaries, says riding on these roads was like navigating an obstacle course.
Until 2001, motorcycles were banned from tollways in the Philippines. A complaint filed by a group of riders eventually led to the rule being eased, and riders with 400cc bikes or larger were finally able to use motorways. “The 400cc rule was huge,” Taruc says. “It made people really consider motorcycles as their main form of transport, because if you have a big bike then you can really go anywhere.”
In 2005, the number of registered motorcycles – and there are many that ply the roads unregistered – surpassed the number of four-wheelrf vehicles in the country.
That number has continued to grow. According to reports by the Motorcycle Development Programme Participants Association (MDPPA), an organisation comprising the four biggest manufacturers, more than one million motorbikes were sold in the Philippines in 2016. In 2018, total sales reached almost 1.5 million.
When I switched to motorcycles, I realised there are a lot of businesspeople and executives switching, too. They keep their cars, but they buy more motorcycles now - Raymund Villanueva, director of quantitative research and ecosystems at PayMaya
Car sales, on the other hand, have been in decline over the past few years. In 2018, only about 350,000 cars were sold, according to reports by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines.
Motorcycle-taxi companies, including Angkas, have been operating under a government-backed pilot programme since 2019, and although it has still not been fully endorsed, it has been well received by commuters.
Raymund Villanueva, director of quantitative research and ecosystems at PayMaya, a fintech start-up that offers cashless transactions, says he likes motorbikes because they help him get around faster, which boosts his productivity. “Getting to a meeting on time regardless of how heavy the traffic is has really been a game-changer for me,” he says.
Villanueva, who started riding motorcycles in 2017, has owned more than a dozen of them, including many big machines.
“When I switched to motorcycles, I realised there are a lot of businesspeople and executives switching, too. They keep their cars, but they buy more motorcycles now.”
Some businesses can’t exist without the two-wheeled vehicles. When Filipinos shop online, their purchase will probably be delivered by a bike rider. Food ordered online is also transported by bike, and they are used for urgent document deliveries, among other things.
The coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world has highlighted the importance of motorcycle delivery services because they are among the few organisations allowed to operate during the period of self-quarantine.
“The motorcycle industry is actually enabling all these emerging industries like fintech and other app-based and digital services to prosper,” says Villanueva. “It’s literally speeding up the Philippines’ transition into a mobile economy, which can only be a good thing.”
For his part, Taruc believes there is a rosy future for motorbiking in the country. “I think the Philippines is far from the saturation point that countries like Thailand or maybe Indonesia have reached when it comes to motorcycles,” he says. “Our road networks are just starting to expand significantly after many decades, which means a lot more room for riders in the coming years.”
