(UPDATED – 12:12 am, Aug. 15) MANILA – Operations of transport network company Uber were ordered suspended for one month by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). This means the company can no longer accept online bookings effective immediately. The decision stunned Senate Public Services panel chief Sen. Grace Poe, who called it “both cruel and absurd.”
The suspension followed LTFRB’s order for Uber to explain why it continued to activate new partners despite a directive by the agency for the transport network vehicle service (TNVS) companies to suspend such activation pending completion of technical working group meetings.
The TWG members are helping the LTFRB determine which among the TNVS units should be given franchises. There are over 120,000 TNVS on the road, but only 7,000 have LTFRB franchises.
Meanwhile, LTFRB directed Uber to give financial assistance to its partners or peer operators during the month-long suspension, in order to compensate the latter for their income loss.
In response, Uber issued a statement on Monday evening, stating that it received the order around 6 p.m. to completely stop operations. “We are studying the order at the moment. We will update our riders and drivers as soon as we can.”
‘Cruel and absurd’ decision – Poe
The LTFRB’s decision caught by surprise Sen. Grace Poe, who called it “both cruel and absurd.” She set an emergency hearing of all parties on Wednesday (Aug. 16), citing the need to “exercise congressional oversight over this public harm that is sure to befall our people” because it punishes tens of thousands of innocent commuters.
The Public Services committee that Poe chairs had painstakingly held hearings the past few weeks among all stakeholders in a bid to help the regulators shape policy on a subject considered uncharted territory.
Poe was miffed that LTFRB took what she deemed arbitrary action, when the consensus among all agencies and parties was to thresh out all kinks and come up with clear guidelines by October.
“The decision of the LTFRB to suspend Uber is both cruel and absurd, to say the least. I am aghast that this agency that committed before the Senate to resolve the issues has just imposed a cure that will only make the disease much worse. It does not solve the problem, but further exacerbates the problem of having an utter lack of safe, reliable, and convenient transportation options for our people. The issue is not about roadworthiness but one that involves a mere administrative violation, which should have merited a corresponding administrative penalty. The penalty should not further prejudice the public and place the riders’ wellbeing at risk by limiting their options.”
In Poe’s view, “the ruling disenfranchises close to 200,000 riders a day with the imposition of a blanket suspension against the operation of Uber along with all its accredited vehicles for one long month. Our people deserve to have options when it comes to choosing convenient, safe, and reliable transportation services to brave the daily punishing traffic jam.”
Poe also considered the suspension order a “defiance of the LTFRB officials’ commitment to provide a solution to the issues surrounding TNVS operations that will be for the benefit of the riding public.”
Poe recalled when the Senate Committee on Public Services, during the last hearing, asked them to straighten out issues with the Transport Network Companies by October, “the committee did not mean for them to suspend the operations of any TNC. I was wrong to think that the LTFRB was on the same page with the Committee on how to come up with remedial rules pending the crafting of pertinent legislation.”
Thirty days, the senator said, “is a long time. Could not the LTFRB just consider imposing a fine commensurate to whatever violation Uber has committed? Or at worst, just consider suspending the units that the agency said were accredited much later after having determined their identities?”
Without reliable public transportation, Poe said, “those who depend on Uber for their daily commute will have to find an alternative or revert to their long and usual daily grind. Was the interest of the riding public, that is now compromised and jeopardized, ever factored in when the LTFRB came up with the suspension order? The LTFRB is well aware that even Uber’s competitor admits that it is unable to service all those who try to book with them.”
Senator Joel Villanueva, for his part, said: “We sincerely hope that all parties, both LTFRB and Uber, can come up with an amicable resolution. At the end of the day, the riding public will suffer the most from a failure to reach a workable solution. We also want the LTFRB to clearly define the ‘predatory actions’ of Uber which warranted the suspension.”
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