Saving the Earth one ride at a time

SCAN ME!

By Vanessa Abellon

In 2017, Anna Moncupa had just come back to the Philippines after finishing her post graduate studies abroad, when an idea popped into her head. Back when she was living in Los Angeles, California, she made the most out of using personal mobility devices (PMD) to make her way across the city. She figured: why not bring the concept home?

After formulating her plan, she and her team started negotiating with various providers, who could help them deploy an app-based, ride-sharing program. With due diligence, they prepared the estimates and waited for the right time to launch.

Fast forward to the year 2020, when the Bonifacio Global City (BGC), in Taguig City— where Anna lives—began building more infrastructure that allowed for safe cycling and personal transport inside the complex. “It was then, I knew, the time had come for the Philippines to have such a facility,” Anna recalls.

Partners for the environment

The facility is called Moovr PH, the first PMD-sharing application in the Philippines, offering bikes and e-scooters for rent. Anna is the company’s founder and general manager.

The Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation (FBDC), the main developer of the BGC, told us that a bike-share program has been in their pipeline since 2015. From then on, they have studied and met with several different bike-share operators, but nothing much came of these meetings. It wasn’t until Anna presented her team’s project proposal, when the plans started materializing.

The BGC, even during its planning stage, has always been envisioned as a smart city. They have been one of the pioneers and strongest advocates of traveling by foot or by riding a bicycle, a pertinent campaign for a company that constantly aims for sustainability and environment-friendliness in its projects.

Anna says, “It was truly a partnership with BGC, from incubation to implementation. That’s the secret sauce for me: having a partner that really works alongside you, with the same values and intentions. We wanted the same things and had the same goal to bring inclusive mobility and simple solutions to ‘BGCitizens.’ We wanted to offer the best possible ride-share program without the unnecessary hullabaloo.”

Moovr PH

While Moovr PH is not the first bikesharing program in the country, it is the first mobile app that offers both bikes and

e-scooters for rent. Anna reiterates, “We didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel. We just found a simple, yet elegant solution to put all these things together, and make it accessible to everyone.”

The app is very much inclusive. The users just need to download it on their mobile phone, top up their wallet, and scan their preferred PMD to unlock and start a ride. Once they’re done, they can park their device on any of Moovr PH’s growing list of hubs around the city.

The users are required to take a photo of the parked bike or e-scooter, to ensure that the devices are parked properly and that they remain in good condition.

Moovr PH orders their e-scooters from Segway, and their bikes are imported and custom-made to dovetail with the requirements of the BGC.

In harmony with their sustainability efforts, the bike locks are run by solarpowered batteries, and they can last for months, as long as they are under the sun. On a single charge, the e-scooters can run for 65 kilometers, and their batteries are swappable—this allows zero downtime, and 100% fleet availability at all times.

Since inclusivity is one of Moovr PH’s core values, the rental rates are friendly. For bicycles, the app charges PHP 15 for every 15 minutes, or a fraction of that time. For e-scooters, the app charges PHP 50 for every 20 minutes, or a fraction of that time.

Currently, the app is geofenced, which means the devices can only be used within the BGC complex. The company reveals that they are planning to expand the project to reach a nationwide scope, starting with areas that are adjacent to the BGC.

According to Anna, since launching in January 2021, they have already seen growth in their “ridership.” They have also received good responses from their riders—many of whom use the ride-sharing app not only to commute around BGC, but also to get a dose of cardio workout in their day.

The BGC adds that the Moovr PH has been providing intracity mobility to their service crew and personnel, who need to move from one site to the next: “We believe that as BGC is getting its footing as a smart and progressive city, it has been a benchmark for other cities to follow. We hope that this example will be replicated, that we’d be able to realize inter-city connectivity with PMDs.”

Anna says she couldn’t think of a better spot to launch a forward-looking app that’s grounded on the environment’s welfare. She concludes, “The BGC is a city that fosters growth, and I’ve experienced this first hand. No other place would be more fitting when it comes to new ideas. That and their customer-centered values was the deciding factor for me to launch here. They have always prioritized the people that make up their community, which is very apparent with its infrastructure and various programs available.”