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The motorcycle-hailing app Angkas has appealed to the public to help “save” some 17,000 drivers who may lose their jobs after the government slashed more than half of the motorcycle taxi company’s workforce.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has denied Angkas’ petition to have more drivers, and instead limited the motorcycle-hailing app’s drivers to 10,000 from 27,000.
“That’s a compromise to the quality of service you can expect, and a direct blow to 17,000 Filipino families,” Angkas said in a statement Saturday.
It added: “Why limit and take away the jobs of our bikers? Why punish bikers who went through training and have proven their skills on the road?
“Your everyday heroes in traffic will enter this Christmas season not knowing whether they will have money to feed their families next year.”
Angkas, which criticized the inter-agency Technical Working Group for putting a cap on each of the three service providers in the extended pilot run of operations, underlined the importance of having motorcycle taxis amid Metro Manila’s traffic logjams.
“The traffic in our thoroughfares is getting heavier each day, and there are more and more commuters to serve as time goes by,” it added in its statement.
The Department of Transportation’s Technical Working Group extended the six-month pilot run of motorcycle ride-hailing operations, involving Angkas, for another three months, with the inclusion of two new players.
READ: App-based motorbike taxi service Angkas back on road
The present pilot run was supposed to end on December 26.
But the inter-agency group allotted a 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 operations.
With this, Angkas chief transport advocate George Royeca said, “That’s a compromise to the quality of service you can expect, and a direct blow to 17,000 Filipino families,” Royeca said.
In May, the DOTr allowed Angkas to operate as a ride-hailing motorcycle taxi for six months starting in June.
READ: Groups want motorcycle taxi operators summoned