Joyride Clarifies, No Govt Official Backing Its Entry

The people behind Joyride debunked the issues that there are government officials behind the group.

During a press conference, Noli Eala, Joyride's Vice President for Corporate Affairs, claimed that there are no officials that has backed up the coming in of Joyride.

Eala said that contrary to those circulating over social media and some reports Senators Bong Go nor Manny Pacquiao are in any way connected with their business.

"Senator Go is not part of Joyride, and so are the other members of the government," Eala said, apologizing to the senator, who is a staunch supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte, for being dragged in the issue.

He also clarified that Joyride started in 2019, under the banner of We Move Things Philippines Inc. through the courier service mobile app Happy Move.

According to him, Joyride is a 100 percent Filipino business, majorly owned by Ralph Nubla Jr. and Bea Chua.

Nubla is a director of PBCom while Chua is of family-owned Sprint Digital and Media Design.

Eala expressed confidence that while they  currently have 6,907 riders--but has only 1,493 active riders on the road at the moment--they would be able to reach the 10,000 cap provided by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) technical working group (TWG) come February.

Earlier, reports told that the TWG, headed by Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Antonio Gardiola Jr., will stop the motorcycle taxi service once the extended pilot run would end by March 23.

With that in place, Eala said that they are transparent with their riders that even if they have joined them, the motorcycle taxi service is still under government study.

Edwin Rodriguez, Chief Business Advisor of Joyride, noted that they are compliant with the standards made by the TWG.

"Kami ay boluntaryong sumali. Pag ito ay tinigil, wala tayong magagawa. Sumunod po tayo sa mga alituntunin (We voluntary joined this study. If this would be stopped, we cannot do anything to it. We should all comply with the standards) ," Eala said.

As of December 31, Joyride is said to have 65,000 mobile app users that downloaded Joyride.

They also said that Joyride is implementing no price surge anytime, anywhere.

"We are compliant with the guidelines on the fare matrix with the no price surge in our fares. We are very happy because this has gotten a positive feedback from the riding public," Eala claimed.

In terms of safety, Rodriguez said that both riders and passengers are insured of Php500,000 under Malayan insurance, while Richard Aruisu, Chief Financial Officer of Joyride added that riders are also covered with medical reimbursement Php 100,000 and violent death insurance of Php250,000.

Also read: TWG: MC Taxi Pilot run cap for 'Monitoring' Only
LTFRB reminds Angkas: This a Pilot Run