Amid legal challenge, app-enabled vehicles queue up for LTFRB’s OK

AMID a legal challenge against their operations, some 3,000 applications have been received by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) for vehicles with online or mobile app-enabled booking features.

LTFRB chair Winston Ginez said the board had received 2,982 applications as of Tuesday. Of the total, 1,174 are with GrabCar while 1,808 are with Uber.

He said the agency would continue to process them despite the petitions recently filed in the board and in a Quezon City court against Transportation Network Vehicle Service (TNVS), the name given to these rides by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

“The process is ongoing. There are hearings set for the applications. And (the concerned committee) continues to accept,” Ginez said. “What is crucial is the hearing in the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City. Because if a TRO (temporary restraining order) or injunction is granted by the court, we will comply.”

The official was referring to the petition filed by the Stop and Go Transport Coalition asking the court to stop the implementation of a May 2015 DOTC order that recognized transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and GrabCar and their partner TNVS.

The petitioner argued that there was an existing moratorium on the issuance of vehicle franchises except for tourist transport services, school buses, vehicles for hire and vehicles that run on alternative fuels.

It argued that TNVS is a form of public transport service that requires a franchise or certificate of public convenience (CPC) and “no amount of accreditation or provisional authority to operate can replace a CPC under the law and existing jurisprudence.”

Stop and Go, a group headed by Jun Magno, also said the release into the streets of more than a thousand new vehicles bought by aspiring TNVS operators “could be one of the reasons for the recent heavy traffic in the metropolis.”

The party-list group 1-Utak has also registered its objection to TNCs, citing the moratorium and questioning the legality of Uber’s surge pricing. The group’s omnibus opposition is being heard in the LTFRB.

Ginez said his agency had already been asked by the court to comment on Stop and Go petition. “We know these issues will come up and we are prepared to defend all these issues before the court of law.”

The RTC hearing for the Stop and Go petition is set for Sept. 29.