JoyRide claims some Angkas riders failed its skills assessment

Several riders from Angkas who were onboarding with new player JoyRide failed the motorcycle taxi service provider’s skills assessment process, a top official of the company said Tuesday.

“As a matter of fact our trainers have been telling us that some of the Angkas riders have to be retrained,” JoyRide Vice President for Corporate Affairs Noli Eala said in a press conference in Antipolo City, Rizal.

“Hindi sila talaga pumapasa sa aming skills assessment so they have to go through retraining,” Eala added.

GMA News Online had sought comment from Angkas, but had not received a response as of posting time.

Last Dec. 18, 2019, the inter-agency Technical Working Group (TWG) on motorcycle taxis extended the six-month pilot run of motorcycle ride-hailing operations for another three months, with the inclusion of two new players —JoyRide and Move It. 

The extension came as the pilot run involving motorcycle taxi pioneer Angkas was about to end on Dec. 26, 2019.

The three players, however, had to share an overall allotted cap of 39,000 registered bikers among themselves   —10,000 bikers per Transport Network Company (TNC) for Metro Manila and 3,000 bikers per TNC for Metro Cebu operations — during the December 23, 2019 to March 23, 2020 “Extended Pilot Implementation.”

The cap for each player did not sit well with pioneer Angkas which claimed to have 27,000 riders in its fleet. The argued that the cap would result in the disenfranchisement of around 17,000 of its biker-partners.

The TWG, however, had argued that the 17,000 riders from Angkas would not lose their livelihoods since they could be onboarded with either JoyRide or Move It.

Insignificant

While some Angkas riders who were applying with JoyRide failed the company’s skills assessment, JoyRide Chief Finance Officer Chino Arvisu said the failure rate was “very insignificant” and was limited to a few issues.

Eala, likewise, said, “I’m not saying all of them pero may mga kailangan talagang dumaan sa retraining.”

“It’s basically really the skills and also the road use —road signs na kailangan pa talaga nila maintindihan,” Eala explained.

The JoyRide official said the company had on-boarded 6,900 riders and had recorded around 100,000 downloads so far.

In May, the DOTr allowed Angkas to operate as a ride-hailing motorcycle taxi for six months starting in June.

The pilot run was approved in aid of legislation in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to evaluate pending bills pushing for the legalization of motorcycles as public utility vehicles (PUVs).

As a result, existing laws such as Republic Act No. 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code may be amended, according to the DOTr.

The TWG, an initiative of the DOTr, was created to gather data and determine the viability of motorcycles as a safe mode of public transportation, which may be taken into consideration during deliberations on pending bills in both houses of Congress. — DVM, GMA News