Grab Philippines is seeking the government’s approval to revive its GrabBike service by participating in the pilot run of motorcycle taxis in Metro Manila and Cebu.
“In light of the recent conversations around motorcycle taxis in the Philippines, Grab would like to reiterate its interest in participating in the motorcycle taxi space to help provide affordable and agile transport solutions to hundreds of thousands of Filipino commuters,” Grab said in a statement.
Grab used to operate GrabBike in the Philippines until mid-2016 when the service was discontinued in compliance with the government regulations.
“As the government is seriously looking into a possible regulation for motorcycle taxis, Grab is seriously considering to re-invest in the motorcycle taxi denomination and relaunch its GrabBike service in the Philippines, with the blessing of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Department of Transportation,” Grab said.
The service in other countries where Grab is present complements TNVS, having two distinct market segments.
Grab said it prepared its approach for reviving the GrabBike service and was ready to present the proposal to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Department of Transportation.
GrabBike is Southeast Asia’s largest bike-riding hailing provider, offering a faster and more reliable way of getting around in traffic-congested cities.
It recorded 2.55 billion bike rides, with 1.49 million bike driver partners all over Southeast Asia in 2019.
Grab boasts of a 99.99-percent safety record, one of the highest in Southeast Asia.
LFTRB board member Antonio Gardiola said in a press briefing Grab and other ride-hailing companies could apply as motorcycle taxi operator once a law was passed.
Gardiola said the technical working group of LTFRB would submit to Congress and Senate the result of the study for motorcycle taxi pilot testing on April 15.
He said that of the seven ride-hailing app that filed applications to join the pilot run, only JoyRide and Move It passed the evaluation.
LTFRB issued the revised guidelines on the implementation of pilot run for motorcycle taxis on Dec. 19 and extended it from Dec. 23 to March 23, 2020.
The government also put an overall cap of 39,000 registered bikers for three ride-hailing apps, including 10,000 per transport network company for Metro Manila and 3,000 bikers per TNC for Metro Cebu operations.