The government should be strict in introducing the most viable competitors of Angkas, which is currently the only motorcycle taxi app legally allowed to run in the country.
Commuter groups are now pressing Congress to pass a bill regulating motorcycle taxis to create legal parameters for “real competition” in the budding two-wheel ride-hailing industry.
In a press briefing this week, Lawyers for Commuter Group Safety and Protection (LCSP) said they favor competition but the group said both the House of Representatives and Senate should intervene.
LCSP spokesperson Atty. Ariel Inton said the government should be strict in introducing the most viable competitors of Angkas, which is currently the only motorcycle taxi app legally allowed to run in the country.
The call, according to Inton, came after the Department of Transportation (DoTr) announced that it will extend the test run for motorcycle taxis for another six months and include new motorcycle taxi companies in the dry run.
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“Our objective in the LCSP is to ensure the safety and protection of the riding public,” Inton, a former Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board member, said.
“We are worried that the new motorcycle players who will join the test run may just endanger the lives of commuters because they do not have the same stringent safety standards as what the riding public has been accustomed to in the initial test run.”
Inton underscored that Congress should fast track its assessment and review to ensure that motorcycle taxis will be legally governed.
Early this year, the House of Representatives passed Resolution 2449 urging the DoTr to implement a pilot program to monitor and regulate the operations of duly registered and organized motorcycles-for-hire.
The DoTr then instructed various agencies to form a Technical Working Group (TWG) composed of stakeholders and experts from the government and the private sector to discuss issues attendant to the prospect of two-wheel vehicles operating as public transport.
Upon the recommendation of the TWG, the DoTr allowed the six-month pilot test for motorcycle taxi operations starting in July of this year. The pilot implementation will end on 26 December.
Since only the motorcycle ride-hailing app Angkas had been established and operating with an eight-month track record at the time, it became the sole subject of the pilot program.
