Grab Philippines is preparing for its entry into the motorcycle taxi business ahead of the legalization of two-wheeled taxis in the country.
“We are preparing our facilities and training our own drivers. It's up to the TWG (technical working group) when they will allow us to enter,” said Grab president Brian Cu Monday.
Cu said the company was investing P15 million in a one-hectare facility in Marikina.
“We are investing in safety, training and world-class trainers and infrastructure,” he added.
“We do see that there’s a demand. In the supply side, there are a lot of Grab food drivers, who are interested in doing motor taxis,” Cu said.
Grab used to operate GrabBike in the Philippines until mid-2016 when the service was discontinued in compliance with government regulations.
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.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board allowed Angkas, Joyride and Move It to participate in the pilot test for motorcycle taxis in Metro Manila, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro.
The government imposed a cap of 63,000 bikers for the three players—45,000 bikers in Metro Manila, 9,000 in Cebu and another 9,000 in Cagayan de Oro.
Angkas has 23,164 bikers in Metro Manila, 4,500 in Metro Cebu and 925 in Cagayan De Oro, while Joyride has 15,000 in Metro Manila, 4,488 in Metro Cebu and 198 in Cagayan de Orp.
Move It, meanwhile,, has 6,836 in Metro Manila with no operations in Cebu and Cagayan de Oro.
The pilot run is expected to end March 23, this year.
Grab last week asked the LTFRB to maximize the 65,000 transportation network vehicle service slots following the sharp decline in the number of active drivers.
“Our main goal of urging the LTFRB to maximize the current supply cap is for us to be able to service the ride-hailing passengers more effectively, and to hopefully avoid the December 2019 situation from happening again, where commuters are unable to get a car for hours or worse left stranded during the holidays,” Cu earlier said.
He said the additional supply would replace the thousands of drivers who churned out and serve the estimated 5.2 million ride-hailing passenger bookings forecasted to happen starting this month.
Cu said his request to maximize the current supply cap aimed to proactively address a looming commuter pain point similar to that experienced in December when there were around three million booking requests served by a scarce supply of 35,000 TNVS drivers.