A foreign company is introducing to this City a public transportation booking service using a mobile application patterned after the Grab taxi service.
The proposed “PediGrab” was formally presented Monday to local officials headed by Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo and incoming Vice Mayor and incumbent Councilor Alan Gel Cordova, who heads the Committee on Transportation, and to other stakeholders at the City Session Hall here.
The proposal is a partnership between Piaggo Ape and Grab. The latter is a company that engages in the popular taxi booking service in urban areas such as Metro Manila and Cebu.
Also on hand to listen to the presentation were barangay officials, officers, and members of associations of tricycle drivers and operators in Dumaguete.
Under the concept, new tricycle units will be complemented with smartphones that would provide the riding public easy access to book specific rides, City Information Officer Dems Rey Demecillo said.
The company’s requirement is to have at least 100 units operating in the City.
Remollo told reporters that he and other city officials will discuss the possibility of allowing the company 100 franchises, after an inventory of all the pedicabs/motor cabs-for-hire registered in Dumaguete.
The Mayor said he believes the total number of pedicabs plying the City streets is less than 2,500, as other franchises may already have expired.
Previously, the City government stopped issuing MCH franchises due to the more than 2,000 units in operation.
Miguelito Jose, senior vice president and general manager of Autoitalia Philippines Enterprises Inc., distributor of Piaggio Apé and Piaggio Porter, presented the proposed tricycle booking service, Demecillo said.
Meanwhile, Edward Du, director of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry 7 (Central Visayas), welcomed the proposal, recalling that the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce & Industry had proposed here a similar concept two years ago.
He said they had initially asked one of the universities here to develop a mobile application for it but since it was delayed for unknown reason, he decided to have the name “PediGrab” patented in his name.
The patent was granted last year to Du, who said he is “willing to share it at no cost” with the City and to whoever wants to use it for the benefit of Dumaguete. (PNA)
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