Ride-share start-up expands to include motorcycle rides across the Philippines

Ride-sharing start-up Arcade City has expanded its P2P service to support the 300,000 motorcycle riders and passengers that previously used the now suspended Angkas service.

Angkas, known as ‘Uber for motorcycles’, was suspended in the Philippines last week by the government, which has led to thousands of its users turning to Arcade City’s app instead.

Arcade City has been live in the region since August, when Uber suspended its services there. With the recent expansion to motorcycles, riders can create a profile and share their contact information, allowing passengers to communicate with them directly through the app, or contact them by phone.

Commenting on Angkas’ suspension, Arcade City Founder & CEO, Christopher David, said that the service “did an amazing job of providing higher quality and safer motorcycle rides”.

“The LTFRB is supposed to keep people safe, but it is doing the exact opposite,” explained David. “They damaged the progress made by Angkas and inconvenienced hundreds of thousands of users who relied on Angkas. Hopefully Arcade City can help restore quality service.”

With Arcade City, service providers are free to set their own rates, build their own recurring customer base, and offer additional services like deliveries or roadside assistance. Passengers can review driver or biker profiles in advance and choose the driver they prefer.

After Uber withdrew last year from Austin, Texas, Arcade City built the world’s first self-governing ride-sharing network, now totalling over 43,000 members. Arcade City Austin has provided safe, reliable city-wide transportation in Austin for the past eighteen months.

Instead of centrally setting policies, Arcade City encourages its service providers to form self-governing cooperatives called ‘guilds’ and set their own policies to ensure quality of service.

The new version of the Arcade City mobile app releases 1 December with in-app support for guilds and features specific for motorcycle riders.