B30m to fuel Go Bike push

B30m to fuel Go Bike push

Go Bike, a Bangkok-based mobile app for hailing motorbike taxis, has invested 30 million baht to capitalise on rising demand.

The company describes its service as legitimate and fully supported by the Motorcycle Taxi Association.

Motorbike drivers must have public driving licences before registering with the app, and their bikes must have yellow number plates.

Go Bike kicked off its service in May, around the time that the government suspended Uber Moto and Grab Bike.

The latter two services were declared illegal because they did not require motorbike drivers to have public driving licences and yellow number plates.

"We plan to invest 5-10 times more than our initial investment of 30 million baht to expand our service in Bangkok, as the country has strong motorbike networks and infrastructure," said Wah Seng Lian, chief executive of Go Bike.

Mr Wah said the company will expand into the Indochina market in the next nine months, starting with Cambodia. Later it will branch into other Thai provinces, particularly tourist destinations.

Atthapon Sittichaiareekit, co-founder of Go Bike, said the app offers both a motorcycle taxi service (Go Bike) and a parcel delivery service (Go Messenger).

Go Bike's service fee is the fare regulated by the Land Transportation Department: 25 baht for the first two kilometres; the third to eighth km is charged at five baht each; then 10 baht per km for longer distances.

"At least one year from now, we won't charge passengers our service fee or share revenue with motorbike taxi drivers, in order to encourage them to enter our network," Mr Wah said.

For Go Messenger parcel delivery, the base fee is 50 baht, plus 10 baht per km.

Mr Wah said the company aims to earn revenue from advertising on its app and the 50-baht base fee for parcel delivery service in the next 12 months.

Since Go Bike's May launch, 20,000 users have downloaded the app for Apple's iOS and Google's Android. The company expects to have 100,000 downloads by year-end.

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