JoyRide vs Angkas, and what's left for us to ponder
Last December 23, 2019, ride-hailing motorcycle taxi service JoyRide opened its service to the public. Prior to this, we’ve had a lot of things at hand when it comes to the motor taxi industry: Angkas has voiced its strong disapproval as only 10,000 of their rider-partners will only be able to continue their service - if I calculated it right, 62% of their 27,000 rider-partner base, part-time or full, will be out of Angkas’ service; The statements made by Angkas’ George Royeca to the media perhaps drew the ire of the transport board, which led to a rebuttal statement by the Department of Transportation and the transport board on Facebook. The board points out that Angkas has overstepped their boundaries by having their service out of designated areas for the pilot period; In the end, the technical working group assigned for motor taxis decided that there shall be no more motor taxis by March 23, saying that “it sees no reason to extend the pilot for a third time.” By this time, we’ve seen the JoyRide reps tell the media that they’re not owned by any politician, though they admit sending a letter to the leader of the dominant political party to get in the pilot period. There were no replies, but they still did get in. Again, we are in this so-called pilot period, where all motor taxis which move people and things are allowed. More on this in the later parts of the post. ...