LTFRB: U-Hop shuttle service still ‘colorum’
U-hop, an app-based shuttle service that is supposed to roll out this week, has yet to secure government accreditation and will be considered “colorum” or unauthorized should it hit the streets, according to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
“U-Hop cannot operate yet. They will be colorum and we’ll apprehend them,” LTFRB Chair Winston Ginez said Saturday to explain a memorandum the board had sent to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
The memo released Friday night said U-Hop operations would violate the “no fixed route” policy laid down by a DOTC order governing app-based vehicle service.
“We are of the position that the business model of U-Hop is not what the department had envisioned for TNCs (transportation network companies) and TNVS (transportation network vehicle service),” said the memo signed by Ginez and board members Ronaldo Corpus and Ariel Inton.
“The board respectfully recommends to your good office a thorough study and formulation of policy for TNCs and TNVS on a shuttle service model,” it said.
Ginez said he would write
U-Hop on Monday “to formally inform them of the board’s decision and tell them to cease even the seminars they’ve been conducting. And to possibly close down their Facebook page until the matter is resolved.”
In a media presentation last week, U-Hop announced that it would start operating this week as a “business-to-business vehicle service”—like a rent-a-car arrangement—pending its accreditation as a TNC.
Mike Manalaysay, U-Hop vice president for corporate communications, said the company has bagged a contract with a call center company to provide private car services, which was supposedly given the go-signal by the LTFRB.
He said U-Hop, a Filipino company, applied for TNC accreditation ahead of Uber and GrabCar when the LTFRB came out with the guidelines.
“We can’t understand why two foreign companies were issued accreditation first. Uber operated for two years without seeking approval,” Manalaysay said when sought for comment on the LTFRB memo.
Some 300,000 people have signed up for membership as U-Hop passengers, while 300 vehicle units have been installed with the U-Hop system. At the media briefing,
U-Hop said 1,700 more units were being processed.
Operators have to pay P150,000 each to join U-Hop, plus P75,000 for the shuttle device package that will be installed in their vans.
For passengers, membership is free. They can choose to pay weekly or monthly fees for the shuttle service from their homes to their destinations.
U-Hop disagrees with the LTFRB’s view that its operation is based on a fixed route, Manalaysay said. Still, he said he welcomed the memo since it recommended the formulation of new policy for the U-Hop business model.
