No more extension of Angkas pilot run after March 2020, TWG says

MANILA, Philippines — No more motorcycle riders will be allowed to transport passengers once the pilot program for motorcycle taxis conclude on March 23, 2020, the head of the technical working group conducting the study said Thursday.

TWG chairman Antonio Gardiola Jr. said that it no longer plans to extend for the second time the pilot implementation for motorcycle taxis, believing that the three-month period is already “enough” for them to gather data.

“For us, siguro that’s (three months) enough, because we have our own monitoring na.. We will come up with a conclusive study,” Gardiola told reporters in an interview.

(For us, the three months is enough, because we have our own monitoring already. We will come up with a conclusive study.)

On Dec. 18, the TWG extended the pilot run of motorcycle taxis, which was originally set to end on Dec. 26, for another three months, allowing two new players to participate.

It will run now run from Dec. 23, 2019 to March 23, 2020.

The pilot run is aimed to collect data on motorcycle taxis to help Congress to further evaluate pending bills seeking to legalize the use of motorcycles as public utility vehicles (PUVs).

READ: 2 new operators to rival Angkas  as pilot run extended for 3 months

After the pilot run, the TWG will submit the data they have collected and their recommendation to Congress for their perusal.

Motorcycle riders will have to wait until a law allowing them as PUVs is passed before they can transport passengers again.

“Pag termination ng program on March 23 [2020], eh ‘di wala ng study, ibig sabihin, walang authorized na tumakbo sa kalsada,” Gardiola said.

(When the program is terminated on March 23, 2020, there will no longer be a study, meaning no more motorcycle taxi will be authorized on the road.)

“Tapos na eh, tapos na ang TWG, wala na kaming role, nag-submit na kami ng recommendation, so walang tatakbo kasi hindi pa yan law eh,” he added.

(It’s done already. The TWG will no longer have a role, we will submit our recommendation. So no motorcycle taxi will be allowed to run because there is no law yet that is allowing them.)

Under the extended pilot run, operators were given an allotted cap of 39,000 registered bikers — 10,000 bikers per transport network company (TNC) for Metro Manila and 3,000 bikers per TNC for Metro Cebu.