ROXAS CITY, Capiz — Taxicabs with receipt-issuing meters started plying the streets of this city on Saturday, a first for a city outside Metro Manila.

Dubbed as “Capiz Cabs,” the receipt-issuing taxis are the first in the Philippines apart from those operating out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, said lawyer Antonio Ortiz, who chairs the Capiz Transport Multi-purpose Cooperative.

The cooperative, CTMC, which owns the captivating Capiz Cabs, launched the operation of the receipt-issuing taxi units on Friday in a ceremony held in front of Mary Immaculate Conception Cathedral here, following a motorcade that started from the Roxas City Airport.

This was also the first time that taxicabs will operate in Roxas City, where tricycles reigned as the mode of public transport.

The cooperative will initially operate five taxi units but the company plans to acquire more. The taxis will ply around Roxas City, Capiz’s 16 towns and, on special arrangements, to any point on Panay Island, said Ortiz.

Ortiz said five local businessmen, who are also members of the cooperative, put up the investment needed to have taxis in Capiz. They were Jose Nery Ong, Leny Albert Apaitan, Romulo Capunong, William Bantique, and Junith Blancaver.

Blancaver said it was Porfirio Clavel, regional director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Western Visayas, who made it possible for taxis to operate in Capiz by lifting the moratorium on applications for the issuance of Certificates of Public Convenience.

Under LTFRB’s Memorandum Circular 017 dated September 3, 2008, the taxis should run on liquefied petroleum gas and should be dominantly “sunburst yellow in color including the designs, markings, and logos.”

Aside from being able to issue receipts, the taxis must have two-way radio system and top light.

About 50 units were initially allowed to operate in Capiz under the terms of the LTFRB memorandum.

Uniformed drivers, professionally trained by the Capiz Visitors and Convention Bureau for tourism services, will man the taxicabs, Blancaver added.