LTFRB asks Uber, Grab to ‘deactivate’ drivers included after June 30
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) ordered on Wednesday transport network companies (TNCs) Grab and Uber to “deactivate” drivers who have been included in their platforms after June 30.
In its order, released to the media on Wednesday night, the LTFRB said that while the TNCs’ respective motions for reconsideration had stayed the execution of the agency’s July 11 order, this would only cover “those transport network vehicle services (TNVS) existing in their systems as of June 30, 2017.”
According to Uber, the order meant the deactivation of the account of drivers who have been accredited by the two TNCs starting July 1.
It is, however, unclear how many drivers would be forced out of the two TNCs’ systems, since Grab stopped activating drivers in its platform only on July 17 and Uber on July 19.
Grab and Uber are estimated to have a combined 42,000 accredited drivers in its platforms. The LTFRB has ordered the two TNCs to submit to the agency their list of drivers as of June 30 to help it determine the exact number of app-based drivers.
So far, according to the LTFRB, Grab has already submitted its database.
The two TNCs have also been told in the latest LTFRB order to “immediately” stop the acceptance, as well as the accreditation of new drivers in its platforms.”
“Failure to do so, the board shall impose the appropriate sanction on the erring or noncompliant respondent/s,” the order read.
The order to Grab and Uber comes six days after the two TNCs filed at the LTFRB a motion for reconsideration against its July 11 order “to cease with dispatch” the operations of their drivers who have not been given by the agency a provisional authority (PA) to operate or a certificate of public convenience (CPC).
To date, the LTFRB has issued PAs or CPCs to only around 3,700 app-based drivers. The LTFRB, however, said that it is fast-tracking the processing and release of around 11,000 franchise applications that have been filed with the agency last year. /atm
