Grab seeks to revive motorcycle taxi service

MANILA, Philippines — Ridesharing platform Grab has sought the permission of government to revive its motorcycle taxi service in the country, known as GrabBike, more than three years after being ordered to stop operations.

Mytaxi.Ph Inc. (Grab Philippines), in a letter dated Dec. 9, 2019, requested the office of Antonio Gardiola, chairman of the technical working group (TWG) for motorcycle taxis, to allow the company to participate in the pilot testing for motorcycle taxis. 

Grab Philippines said GrabBike is Southeast Asia’s “largest and safest bike-ride hailing provider,” with 2.55 million bike rides last year and 1.49 million driver partners across the region.

It also claims to have a 99.99 percent safety record, which it said is one of the highest among providers in Southeast Asia.

Grab used to operate GrabBike in the Philippines until mid-2016 when the service was discontinued in compliance with government regulations.

“In light of the recent conversations around motorcycle taxis in the Philippines, Grab would like to reiterate its interest in participating in the motorcycle taxi space to help provide affordable and agile transport solutions to hundreds of thousands of Filipino commuters,” the company said in a statement yesterday.

“As the government is seriously looking into a possible regulation for motorcycle taxis, Grab is seriously considering to re-invest in the motorcycle taxi denomination and relaunch its GrabBike service in the Philippines, with the blessing of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr),” it added.

The TWG approved last month the addition of two new players in the extended pilot implementation of the pilot run.

JoyRide and Move It now join motorcycle ride-hailing company Angkas in the extended pilot implementation, which will last up to March 23 with an overall allotted cap of 39,000 registered bikers.

Ownership issues

However, Angkas could face disqualification from participating in the trial study as it has not met foreign ownership provisions for transportation carriers, according to Alberto Suansing, consultant of the DOTr’s TWG.

He said this could be the predicament of Angkas after they found out it is owned 99.996 percent by a Singaporean national.

“That disqualifies them as a common carrier,” he said in an interview with “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News aired on Monday.

Suansing said they have yet to discuss in the TWG Angkas’ possible disqualification over its ownership issue.

The TWG earlier said it only granted Angkas the privilege to provisional operation as the company has not met the 60-40 percent foreign equity requirement provided for in the Constitution.

Suansing admitted the TWG did not initially discover Angkas’ status when the app-based firm joined the trial study for motorcycle taxis.

They searched for Angkas’ records when the firm began making noise about putting a cap of 10,000 on its fleet, which they claimed displaced about 17,000 drivers.

Suansing stressed Angkas could not reason why it should be exempted.

In addition, LTFRB board member Antonio Gardiola Jr., who heads the TWG, said Angkas risks being blacklisted due to “clear and blatant” violations of their guidelines.

According to Gardiola at a press briefing at the LTFRB’s head office in Quezon City, Angkas riders were caught operating in General Santos and Cagayan de Oro cities, which violated their provision that the pilot testing is only done in Metro Manila and Cebu.

Gardiola said this was confirmed by their operatives posing as “mystery passengers” who were able to book and ride motorcycles using the app-based firm.

They also discovered that Angkas has been implementing price surges on its customers, another violation of their guidelines.

On Monday, the Mandaluyong City regional trial court issued a 72-hour TRO against the 10,000 rider arbitrary cap in Metro Manila and 3,000 riders for Metro Cebu per company imposed by the TWG on motorcycle taxis.

The class suit was filed by Angkas riders.

As of yesterday, the TWG said it has yet to receive a copy of the order.

Hearing on alternative PUVs

The Senate committee on public services headed by Sen. Grace Poe conducted a public hearing yesterday on bills proposing to regulate the use of motorcycles as safe and alternative public utility vehicles.

The hearing tackled the four bills on motorcycle taxis filed by Poe and Sens. Sonny Angara, Imee Marcos and Ralph Recto.

“The long lines of commuters waiting for rides leave no doubt that we need alternative public utility vehicles. We hope this hearing will help find solutions to issues on safety, legality and other questions that need to be threshed out toward an efficient transport system as a whole,” Poe said.

The cap set by the regulator on the number of motorcycle taxis and issues concerning ownership will also be tackled at the hearing. – With Emmanuel Tupas, Paolo Romero