Nearly 20,000 bikers to lose jobs with new LTFRB cap, Angkas says
MANILA, Philippines (Corrected 3:43 p.m.) — Ride-hailing company Angkas on Saturday revealed that its operations are set to continue in 2020, but it will lose a large portion of its workforce due to a decision by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to limit the number of Angkas bikers on the road next year.
The LTFRB decreased the number of Angkas bikers allowed to operate next year to 10,000 from 27,000, the motorcycle taxi firm said in a statement.
Eto ba ang pamasko sa amin, mawalan ng trabaho? #SaveAngkas pic.twitter.com/0dKodruhAN
— Angkas (@angkas) December 21, 2019
This could mean a harder time for passengers trying to book rides on the service, which many use as an alternative to unreliable mass transportation and more expensive ride-hailing services like Grab.
According to an LTFRB post announcing the extension of the pilot implementation of motorcycle taxis, it has "allotted [a] cap of thirty-nine thousand (39,000) registered bikers — ten thousand (10,000) bikers per Transport Network Company (TNC) for Metro Manila and three thousand (3,000) bikers per MC Taxi service provider for Metro Cebu operations."
The 39,000 authorized registered bikers will be divided among Angkas and new players JoyRide and Move It.
“Your everyday heroes in traffic will enter this Christmas season not knowing whether they will have money to feed their families next year,” the official statement from Angkas Chief Transport Advocate George Royeca read.
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“Ngayon, sa halip na kami ay dagdagan, nagpasya ang LTFRB na bawasaan pa ang Angkas bikers mula 27,000 hanggang 10,000 na lamang. That's a compromise to the quality of services you can expect, and A DIRECT BLOW TO OVER 17,000 FILIPINO FAMILIES.”
(Instead of increasing our capacity, the LTFRB decided to decrease our workforce by 17,000 Angkas bikers.)
The LTFRB has yet to issue a statement on its supposed decision.
Meanwhile, Royeca said there is no need to restrict the number of Angkas bikers who were properly trained and followed traffic rules accordingly.
The company appealed to the public to help protect the livelihood of their bikers by promoting the hashtag #SaveAngkas, which is currently trending on Twitter.
(Editor's note: This article has been updated to indicate that the LTFRB has authorized a cap of 39,000 bikers alloted to three Transport Network Companies: Angkas, JoyRide and Move It.)
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