Mobility, safety weighed as motorcycle taxi bill pushed

WITH the revelation that only 30 percent of the 45,000 motorcycle taxi supply in Metro Manila operates at any given time, lawmakers believe that it is important to increase the supply cap to serve Filipino commuters, while providing ample data to the pilot study.

In a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Angkas CEO George Royeca revealed that less than a third of the motorcycle taxi riders are plying Metro Manila’s roads, especially during rush hour.

This prompted Senator Grace Poe to seek the opinion of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s (LTFRB) representative to the Technical Working Group (TWG) for Motorcycle Taxis.

“While we allocated a total number of 45,000 motorcycle taxis in Metro Manila, we learned that around only 30 percent are operating. As far as the study is concerned, we set the cap 45,000 on the basis for the study. This is just an observation, maybe we cannot get a good sample size because we are assuming 100 percent is operating. Thirty percent out of 45,000 is only roughly 12,000. I will consult with the other members of the TWG and inform the chair— whether or not 12,000 is sufficient to gather data as regards the safety and security of motorcycle taxis,” LTFRB representative Paul Austria said.

Poe further inquired whether or not the best practices in other markets include the provision for a supply cap, asking the representative from Grab on its experiences in Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Grab Group Managing Director for Public Affairs Yew Heng Lim said “in terms of slots, there is no cap in countries that we operate in.”

For Poe, the government should not put a supply cap or a limit to the number of players in the industry— predicated on the idea that all drivers will undergo appropriate training.

“It’s my position that as long as you train your drivers properly and reprimand them if they break the law, We should allow more players to come in,” she said.

Motorcycle taxis are currently operating under a pilot study, as they have yet to be legally recognized as a form of public transportation. Lawmakers from the previous Congress have started the ball rolling to legalize them but were halted due to the pandemic.

For now, the government has limited the operation of motorcycle taxis to three companies, which are required to provide the government necessary data to prove that they are a safe mode of transportation for the public.

The three companies are Angkas, Joyride, and Move It.

All the players said they are providing training and driver education to their rider-partners.

For her part, University of the Philippines (UP) Professor Grace Jamon said the government should move forward with legalizing motorcycle taxi operations in the Philippines, given the wealth of data that the pilot study has culled from its inception in 2019.

“The question is until when are we going to be a pilot? We have exhausted so much time and we have already done the study. Let’s get down to business and legislate this one into a policy,” she said.

So many motorbikes

STILL, Senator Poe foresees the biggest issue until now is the safety aspect, citing the most recent Global Status Report for Road Safety of the World Health Organization (WHO), showing nearly 30 percent of all road crash deaths involve powered twoand three-wheeled vehicles, such as motorcycles, mopeds, scooters and electrical bikes (e-bikes), and the numbers are rising. This is even higher in Southeast Asia where 43 percent of all road traffic deaths involve two and three wheelers. The established vulnerability of motorcycle as a mode of transportation calls for the government to step in, she said.

Also at the hearing, Poe, citing recent data from the Land Transportation Office, noted that over 19.2 million motorcycles are now roaming the country.

This, she adds, is roughly 87 per cent of all registered motor vehicles as of 2022. “Imagine, 87 percent ito,” said Poe, adding: “One out of three Filipino households own a motorcycle and 51 percent of them use it for livelihood.”

She recalled that as early as 2018, senators “already called the Department of Transportation to consider the legalization of motorcycles-for-hire in the same way it recognized new forms of transport services under Department Order No. 2015-11.

“This is to promote mobility,” said Poe, noting that “while they did not take this track, we appreciate that our transport agencies kept an open mind on the possibility of motorcyclefor-hire in the country and for spearheading a pilot testing.”

She recalled that a Technical Working Group (TWG) conducted the pilot implementation of motorcycles-forhire, more commonly known as motorcycle or MC taxis. The pilot implementation was deemed the best option for the government to determine, if indeed, the Philippines is ready for a motorcycle taxi regime.

After more than four years of continuous studies by the TWG, Poe said, “it now appears, without a doubt, that commuters are overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing motorcycles taxis.”

She also cited the latest TWG survey reporting that a whopping 96 percent of motorcycle taxi passengers surveyed believed that the government should allow motorcycles as a mode of public transportation.

At the same time, she noted the commuters favor the MC taxis’ affordability and quicker conveyance time in clogged streets of urban centers where MC taxis were allowed to operate. Riders, she noted, “even habals, lobby for a legal regime as it stands to give them a viable source of income and livelihood.”

Moreover, on the question of “who should regulate this new specie, the TWG study proposes to give the jurisdiction over MC taxis to LTFRB for operations within Metropolitan areas, and to the LGUS for all other areas, not much different to the current regulation of tricycles,” according to Poe.

“Now that we are convinced of the need for MC taxis, new questions crop up: Are we now ready to welcome more players? Is it time for the TWG to conclude its pilot study and submit its final recommendations to Congress?”