Legalizing MC taxis

Recently, motorcycle (MC) taxi service provider Move It asked the government to reconsider its decision to cut by more than half its current driver fleet.

Move It said that it is opposing the order of the government’s technical working group on MC taxis – a creation of Congress but under the Department of Transportation (DOTr) – to trim its motorcycle tax fleet to only 6,836 from the present 14,662 within 30 days.

According to the TWG, there was a consensus in 2020 that would cap Move It’s fleet to 6,836. Angkas got 23,164 while JoyRide PH was given 15,000.

The TWG also ordered Move It to stop the onboarding of new riders for one year and to stop operating in Cebu City and Cagayan de Oro City after it found out that the company had no authority to deploy riders in these areas.

In directing Move It to bring down its fleet by more than half, the TWG said that it was observing the rider cap of 45,000 for Metro Manila imposed in 2020.

Move It is filing a motion for reconsideration with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), even as it asked the TWG to consider the differences in the period from the time that the rider cap was implemented in 2020 to the transport landscape right now.

It said that MC taxis have since become one of the most preferred modes of transport in the metro and that the rider cap being enforced is based on pandemic-era guidelines from November 2020.

Thousands of MC taxis are now allowed on the streets because of a pilot test approved by Congress in June 2019 to determine their reliability and safety as a means of public transport.

Pending legislation, MC taxis were provisionally allowed to ferry passengers after Congress approved in June 2019 a six-month pilot run in Metro Manila, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro. It was originally set to end on Dec. 26, 2019, but was extended until March 23, 2020, to allow for further study. The pandemic, however, delayed the deliberations and prompted another pilot test period. The study concluded in May 2024, but the pilot run was extended indefinitely by Congress.

There are 45,000 motorcycle taxi slots originally distributed equally among Angkas, Joyride and Move It, the three original proponents of the pilot study.

The study was conducted to provide substantial information and help address the viability of motorcycles as a means of public conveyance, and its potential use as a safe and reliable mode of public transportation.

The LTFRB believes there is a need to legalize MC taxis as a viable and safe means of transportation for average daily commuters who have yet to afford their own vehicle.

It noted that the volume of vehicles occupying streets in major cities such as Metro Manila and other highly urbanized areas continues to grow at an exponential rate, mainly because more Filipinos have better jobs and income and as such, can afford to buy their own vehicles. However, for those who still cannot afford to buy a vehicle of their own, they will continue to look for modes of transportation that they can afford and at the same time assure their safety when going to their destination.

The Land Transportation and Traffic Code under Republic Act 4136 does not explicitly recognize motorcycle taxis as a form of public transportation. The law states that private motorcycles cannot be used to transport passengers or freight for pay.

The LTFRB has already warned that some 60,000 motorcycle taxi drivers risk losing their livelihood if Congress fails to pass the long-delayed law legalizing their operations.

LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz Jr. earlier noted that the pilot study owes its legal existence to the existence of the 19th Congress and if this Congress bows out without approving the law, then MC taxis will again become illegal.

He said that if the law is not passed, the motorcycle taxis that we see on the road will all become habal-habal and that would only put at risk the safety of paying passengers.

Guadiz pointed out that MC taxis are needed on two grounds. First is economics as these generate income and jobs, and second, for purposes of flexibility in our transportation system as there is a shortage in the number of buses and passenger jeepneys.

According to Paul Austria, secretary of the TWG, the executive department is hoping that lawmakers will be able to pass the legislation before the current 19th Congress ends in June.

Under the legislative calendar of the 19th Congress, its session resumed on Jan. 13 and will go on until Feb. 7, after which it will adjourn from Feb. 8 to June 1. It will resume on June 2, and the last session day is set for June 13, 2025.

Austria said that the report on the results of the pilot study submitted to Congress was the basis for the House in approving on third and final reading House Bill 10424, or the proposed Motorcycle-for-Hire Act, on July 30, 2024.

Its Senate counterpart, however, has been pending before the committee on public services, which is chaired by Sen. Raffy Tulfo.

HB 10424 outlines the procedures on how to register MC taxis and specifies the standards and specifications for riders and their motorcycles. Only those holding a professional driver’s license will be allowed to operate a motorcycle taxi and the bill sets a speed limit of 60 kilometers per hour.

It also tasks the LTO to ensure the roadworthiness of all motorcycles-for-hire before their registration, or any renewal thereof.

The LTFRB is tasked with the responsibility of prescribing fares, surcharges and other transportation fees that may be charged by operators and motorcycle taxi platform providers.

In April last year, the LTFRB also approved 8,000 slots to be equally allocated to four transport network companies, namely Para Xpress (Xpress), Taxsee Philippines (Maxim), Grab (GrabBike) and Dingdong to operate in Central Luzon and southern Luzon regions.

But based on a TWG report on the pilot study, there are a total of 68,036 registered MC taxis across the country, 42 percent of which (28,547) are affiliated with Angkas.

Sen. Grace Poe has said that the results of the pilot study were enough to prove the viability of allowing MC taxis and that it was high time that the government provided a legal framework for them as the motorcycle-for-hire bill has been through the long and winding road to passage.

Riding MC taxis would be safer if the law is passed, instead of allowing them to operate illegally as habal-habal. For many Filipinos, this particular mode of transportation has already become a necessary part of their everyday lives and there is no point delaying the passage of a law legalizing it any further.

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