Poe says Uber, Grab “need to be penalized” for activated vehicles without franchise
Senator Grace Poe said Thursday Uber System Inc. and Grab Philippines will surely be fined by the Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) for their activated vehicles without franchise.
“There will be a decision about this but for sure they need to be penalized or anything”, Poe said in an ambush interview after the four-hour hearing.
Poe said "to LTFRB, decide on that this October and don’t limit those who can give safe transportation to the public. To our riders, don’t worry we will not let them to remove and limit our choices where we should ride” .
The Uber and Grab told LTFRB in the hearing on August 11 they each have 28,000 total vehicles but in a hearing at the House of Representatives Wednesday. Uber said they have 66,000 and Grab said they have 52,398 cars in Metro Manila.
LTFRB member Aileen Lizada said only 3999 of more than 100,000 vehicles of the two companies have the provisional authority and certificate of public convenience (CPC). There are more than 10,000 pending application for franchise.
“Our main issue here is we want the transport network companies to comply with their terms and conditions because if they are only compliant on terms and conditions on 2015, only those franchised can book a ride,” said Lizada
Lizada said not all the 125,00 will be given certificates of public convenience since LTFRB has to fair in applying the law with other vehicles.
“We also have to consider the taxi because in Metro Manila there are 26,000 already and nationwide around 40,000 so LTFRB has a lot of denominations. We are not purely TNVS (Transport Network Vehicle Services),” she said.
Lizada said LTFRB will “definitely not” give CPCs to all the 125,000 vehicles of Uber and Grab since they need to justify the moratorium order to taxis and UV.
“We have to be fair, the application of the law should be fair”, Lizada said.
She said LTFRB will consult the University of the Philippines National Center for Transportation on the proposed standard working hours for the drivers.
Lizada said Uber and Grab should define what is the meaning of ride sharing that is stated in their business objective.”
“For use, ride sharing is you are the owner of the car. You are the driver because right now there is one operator withy 40 cars, one operators with 60 cars, one operator with 70 cars”, she said.
Yves Gonzales, head public policy Uber Philippines, said 94 percent of the TNVS owned only one car, five percent owned two cars and one percent is more than two.
Gonzales said there are operators who owned more than ten vehicles and there may be operators with 60 cars. Alanna Ambi/DMS
