Ayala, Globe, 917Ventures Launch Gogoro in the PH

Transport services are not enough these days and much of it use gas/diesel power and energy, but today, our friends from Globe, 917Ventures, and Ayala Corporation is launching Gogoro in the Philippines. 

For those who don't know, Gogoro is a Taiwan based battery swapping refueling corp that is used in scooters, mopeds and motorcycles. They also have a line of smart EV's with the recent one being Gogoro 2 Plus poised to be launch this quarter for a more environmentally apt mobility solution.

Bernie Llamzon of 917Ventures say "We are pushing for the future of mobility in this country. Reasons being one is traffic, gas prices, pollution. We will invest in Gogoro to answer climate challenges in the country."

Gogoro Founder and CEO Horace Luke says "I'm so excited to be in the Philippines. We met Ernest in 2015, when we were in Taiwan, he told me to bring this to the PH because this is what Globe does. We find a lot of synergy in. Our platform is sustainable solutions. In the PH alone, there are 11 million scooters/bikes but unfortunately, are gas powered. How do we make it accessible? The infrastructure isn't that good either, so this is why we have Swap and Go, in 6 seconds you can pop out a battery unlike gas stations. We have successfully done this in Taiwan. A station like this can service a lot of vehicles, we are also planning to make this a backup for traffic signs, for a smart city. The first of this station, will be launched outside today! We need to make this irresistible, with good product design, digitization and safety. We have smart features available to consumers, even biometric locks, nearly zero theft since 2015. It can go zero to fifty kph in 3.7 seconds. In Taiwan, we only had 1 percent electric vehicles, but now we went to 18 percent. We have 90 percent market share, and we bring the latest Gogoro vehicles here to change the mobility landscape in the Philippines."

Vince Yamat of 917Ventures adds "We are launching the Globe employee pilot program in Q4 this year. In our own company, we will have 70 people to try it out. They will test it out in 2 months which will start this may, to hopefully not worry about the way we move around in the country."

This is just the start of something better, to hopefully have a more sustainable power source and environmentally friendly utilization in medium to long term 2 wheelers and 4 wheelers in the future.

ANGKAS Does Rider Re-Training, Pilot Run

DOTR gave them a go signal for pilot run/ operations in Metro Manila and Cebu. Now they are doing a lot of things for the operation of Angkas in Manila.

David Medrano the Angkas Head of Operations “One of the causes of danger in this system is that the rider often doesn’t hold on to the driver. Now the vest has the driver’s ID, two helmets and improvement on the biker app. Both the rider and passenger are given these paraphernalia as if they are new passengers. We share the cost for it, and very easy to pay for, technically subsidized by Angkas. There will be no change in the fare either, it will stay the same even with the additional expenses. We accept high end non modified motorcycles, it will be only for 7 years, we don’t encourage riders to take a trip while it’s raining because it is very dangerous. We really discourage that. There is no denying too that we have riders are getting harassed, by other sectors, we cannot worry about them as much because we prioritize passengers. There are only a few instances, we won’t let that slide if it needs to be addressed.”

George Royeca the Angkas Head of Regulatory and Public Affairs says “Thank you to everyone who came here, we are very happy to tell you that we are retraining our force to make sure all the conditions have been met. They will also be given paraphernalia for passengers, a new vest with a new design for the safety of our riders. It is the duty of rider and driver to always make sure they are safe on the road. If there are new safety measures, it will go to the manufacturers and the law. There will be no modifications, will have bike tests to make sure they are safe on the road. Insurance will be given to the driver and passenger, for death and dismemberment and also claims. Suspension and banning of the platform will be given to erring drivers dependent on the gravity of offense. Our current rider accident rate is 0.003% which came from the number of rides over the accidents met on the road. We wish to bring that down still. The pilot is 27,000 and we had very nice congress support, hopefully we get laws passed including rules and regulation.”

Robert Bolaños Chairman of Motorcycle Rights Organization says “This is the reason why the rider organization is supporting Angkas, because of safety. We also see how they got into the advocacy of safety, training the riders and even the passengers information. Angkas has resources to promote road safety, to share the road, and t doesn’t stop there and perhaps have delivery, messengers to also do this to protect them and the riding public. It is how they think and how they act, we are involved and make people aware that there are strict standards. What they fail to realize is that they will get the same if Angkas passes the standards, for the entire motorcycle industry. These standards puts us on top again, that is the goal.”

Now make sure your Angkas experience would be a good one and see they get trained first before you, the passenger would actually ride one. They are conducting retraining now and equipping their drivers with new vests with new designs and even new helmets. This is part of the TWG, the ones who will make decisions. Hopefully they get less than 5% during this pilot run, so they have bullets to fill their case in congress. Shower caps and face masks can now also be demanded from riders, so if you ride on please do ask for it for hygienic purposes.

Unity Ride Launched Against Double Plate Law

It looks like they had to resort to a show of force today and by the looks of it, they’re a couple thousand people strong. Riders from across Luzon, their leaders and even Angkas rode from EDSA People Power Monument to the Philippine Senate this morning to show their outrage against the Double Plate Law authored by Senator Richard Gordon and Vicente Sotto. This is the senate solution against the riding in tandem crime problem via RA11235. It mandates the Land Transportation Office to issue bigger reflectorized plates for two wheeled vehicles enough to be seen 12-15 meters away from the naked eye. Riders deem this anti poor, and pose a safety risk for the rider, the passenger and even other road users.

They also claim no consultation was made before or after the enactment of the law as it was signed by Duterte already last week. It makes sense because not all motorcycles are created the same way, not all models have places to put the front plates modifications done on bikes would pose more risk to accidents. Criminals simply could change plates, use fake ones to mislead authorities.

They also issued a strong joint statement.

Present at the occasion were various rider groups including Robert Perillo the President of Bulacan Motorcycle Rider Federation, Eric Lazarte Head of Philippine Advocates for Road Safety, Rod Cruz Chairman of Arangkada Riders Alliance, Felipe Rabulan Head of Bull Riders Club, Jobert Bolanos Chairman of Motorcycle Rights Organization, Christopher Cristobal Chairman of Road Guardians of the Philippines, Shaun Roberts President of KRG, Manny Capiral of Cavite Eagle Riders and ANGKAS Head of Regulatory and Public Affairs George Royeca.

They are hoping for a resolution, they have valid arguments and we all hope this becomes a start of an amicable one, not just for Angkas riders but the whole motorcycle community.