MANILA, Philippines — Grab President Brian Cu appealed to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Monday to allow the 5,000 drivers deactivated from their system to operate temporarily.
In a hearing held at the LTFRB on Tuesday, Cu said that to address the problem on passenger bookings, the board should allow deactivated drivers to ply the road for the meantime.
“The best scenario for the Filipino people is to have more drivers, which results in passenger convenience and less traffic as car owners will just need to hail a ride, instead of bringing their cars out,” Cu said during the hearing in connection with the deactivation of drivers from its system.
“If LTRFB will allow the deactivated drivers to resume work while it processes the application of 10,000 new drivers, that would be the best win for the Filipino people,” he added.
READ: As Grab loses 8k drivers, LTFRB opens 10K TNVS slots
On Monday, Grab deactivated around 5,000 drivers from its platform after the drivers failed to submit proper documents such as provisional authority and certificate of public convenience to the company.
The said documents are given by the LTFRB to transport network vehicle services (TNVS) applicant drivers and operators.
According to Cu, the number affected by its one-time big-time deactivation is already lower than Grab’s projected number of 8,000.
“Since last week up to yesterday, 3,000 out of the 8,000 submitted proper documentation. These drivers and operators showed proof [of provisional authority from LTFRB],” Cu said.
Consequently, during the dialogue between LTFRB officials and Cu, TNVS drivers and operators trooped to the LTFRB to protest the deactivation.
Based on data from Grab, around 15,000 drivers have been deactivated from the system since January this year due to lack of proper documents. (Editor: Eden Estopace)
READ: Grab PH: 15,000 driver accounts deactivated since January