MANILA, Philippines — Motorcycle ride-hailing platform Angkas will continue to boost its services despite uncertainties in its operations and unprofitability.
Angkas CEO and founder Angeline Tham said the company is in talks with potential partners to expand payment options for its users.
“We are working on giving more payment options to our users. We’re looking at developing credit cards as one of the payment options,” Tham said.
Angkas is the first app-based motorcycle ride-hailing service in the country which was launched in 2016. It now has over three million downloads.
But Angkas is still not making money at present, according to Tham, saying that it would take a lot of time before the company becomes profitable.
“We want to do it. Profitability is on the horizon, hopefully more sooner than later,” she said.
“If you will look at the history of Angkas, We were not in service and operation for over one and a half year so that took a toll on the company in total. We operated for a few months in the beginning then after that there was an injunction. We operated for about four months and now another six months during the pilot phase. So that on and off operations really hurt the operation of the company,” Angkas chief transport advocate George Royeca said separately.
Angkas is currently on a government-sanctioned pilot run. It was granted last June by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) a six-month trial run that legally allowed the service to operate in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.
The pilot run came following the release of general guidelines that cover safety requirements, fare matrix, data-sharing standards and key performance indicators for the motorcycle-taxi operations.
Data from the trial run will be used to determine whether the government will permanently allow motorcycles for public transport, which would require amendment of Republic Act 4136, or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, which mandates that two-wheeled vehicles cannot engage in business or offer public transport.
Royeca said Angkas is hoping that its pilot run, which will end on Dec. 26, would be extended while the law on legalizing the use of two-wheeled vehicles for public transport is being finalized.
“So hopefully operations will be stable not just for Angkas but for everyone,” he said.
Royeca earlier said Angkas is also looking to bring its services to more cities that are experiencing worsening traffic conditions should a law allowing the use of motorcycles in public transport in the country be passed.
Angkas said all 27,000 biker-partners have been trained on new safety protocol to comply with the mandated requirements of the DOTr Technical Working Group (TWG).
It has so far maintained its 99.997 percent safety record despite initial speculation from government bodies on its safety.
“Right now we’re just waiting on word from TWG. We are able to hold safety record so hopefully that becomes a basis for us to be given a positive recommendation,” Royeca said.
Angkas will join the 2020 Corporate Governance Conference organized by the Institute of Corporate Directors on March next year to discuss good governance for startups.