Angkas is giving free rides to health workers

Ride-hailing service contributing to frontliner transport needs

Motorcycle ride-hailing service, Angkas, is offering free rides to Metro Manila healthcare workers. To avail of the service, healthcare workers need to sign up HERE. After signing up, applicants will be sent further instructions on how to avail of the service.

In observance of health and safety standards, passengers will have to bring the own helmet, full-face visor, face mask, and ID when riding with an Angkas partner rider. All Angkas partner riders are equipped with helmets, face masks, and the IATF-approved wearable barrier in compliance with the government’s backriding rules.

Besides the free service for frontliners, Angkas has been donating its approved shields to various government entities. Angkas has recently donated 100 backrider shields to the City of Manila, received Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna (pictured above).

They have also donated 1,000 wearable motorcycle barriers to the Joint Task Force (JTF) Covid Shield. Receiving the donation were Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary, Eduardo Año, and task force chief, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, from Angkas head transport advocate, George Royeca in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Recognizing the need to supplement suspended public transportation during the reimposed MECQ, JTF Covid Shield and the city of Manila have agreed to deploy 1,000 Angkas riders near hospitals identified by the Department of Health to provide free rides to health workers attending to coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients. These are the Philippine General Hospital, San Lazaro Hospital, Ospital ng Sampaloc in Manila; the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City; and the Tala Hospital in Caloocan City. Some Angkas riders will also be placed on standby at the National Kidney Institute, Quezon City General Hospital, Lung Center of the Philippines, Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City; and, Ospital ng Maynila as well as Fabella Hospital in Manila.

During the lockdown, while backriding and ride-hailing services were suspended, Angkas continued to operate as a food and package delivery service. In a bid to encourage the government to allow backriding once again, Angkas had submitted a proposal for a backrider shield that’s hoped to prevent with the spread of the virus and appease the authorities’ worries of social distancing when on a motorcycle. Their backrider shield design has since been approved and can be used by motorcycle riders to transport their significant other while on a motorcycle.