Angkas to withdraw case vs. DOTr-TWG

Motorcycle taxi pioneer Angkas on Wednesday decided to withdraw its court case against the Department of Transportation-Technical Working Group (DOTr-TWG) following the body’s decision to raise the cap on riders per service provider and add another area in the pilot study.

To recall, Angkas operator DBDOYC Inc. filed a petition for a temporary restraining order before a Quezon City Trial Court against the TWG’s decision to put a cap of 30,000 motorcycle taxi bikers in Metro Manila and 9,000 riders in Metro Cebu which will be equally distributed among the pioneer and new entrants JoyRide and Move It.

In its petition, Angkas also also sought to remove JoyRide and Move It in the three-month extension of the pilot study scheduled to end on Mar. 23, 2020.

After the House Committee on Transportation’s executive session with the members of the TWG and representatives of the three motorcycle taxi firms, panel chair Representative Edgar Sarmiento announced that Angkas agreed to drop its case versus the transportation body.

LOOK: DOTr-TWG on motorcycle taxis and players Angkas, JoyRide, and Move It agreed to increase the cap of 30,000 riders to 45,000 after the House transporation committee conducted an Executive session. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/7FahH3cppe

— Ted Cordero (@Ted_Cordero) January 22, 2020

This was confirmed by Angkas chief transport advocate George Royeca.

“Nagka-usap na po kami... so we are now in collaboration,” Royeca said.

“Excited po kami sa pilot. Hopefully, we can get the success of the pilot for the necessary law to be passed,” he said.

The Angkas official said the company will withdraw the lawsuits in the next scheduled hearing for the cases.

The TWG decided to increase the cap of 30,000 riders in Metro Manila to 45,000. This number will be equally distributed among the three motorcycle taxi service providers.

The transportation body also added one more area in the pilot study —Cagayan de Oro. 

In December 2019, the TWG announced it will extend the six-month pilot study, involving Angkas — which was scheduled to end on Dec. 26, 2019 — for another three months, until Mar. 23, 2020, with the inclusion of new players JoyRide and Move It.

The body also placed a cap of 39,000 bikers to be shared by three players —10,000 riders each in Metro Manila and 3,000 each in Metro Cebu.

The original as well as the extended pilot study only included Metro Manila and Metro Cebu. The decision to include Cagayan de Oro, Gardiola said, was because its local government unit already has ordinances allowing motorcycle taxis.

Angkas, which has 27,000 riders in its system, had slammed the TWG’s decision to put a cap on the number of bikers included in the pilot run, claiming it will disenfranchise some 17,000 of its biker-partners.

For his part, TWG chairman and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Member Antonio Gardiola also withdrew the body’s earlier recommendation to blacklist Angkas.

The TWG also retracted its earlier recommendation to terminate the study on the viability of motorcycle taxis as a mode of public transport.

On Monday, the DOTr-TWG recommended the termination of its study on motorcycle ride-hailing operations, making the operation of the service illegal.

Shortly after the announcement, Senator Christopher "Bong" Go said the pilot run of motorcycle taxis will continue, adding that even President Rodrigo Duterte wanted its continuation. —KG, GMA News