LTFRB unaware about Grab’s P80 minimum fare

An official of the Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Tuesday said the board is not aware of the P80 minimum fare of Grab.

LTFRB Chairman Martin Delgra III said as far as the computation rate is concerned, the board was not informed about the P80 starting charge.

“Obviously not, in so far as the computation of the minimum fare is concerned,” Delgra said during the hearing on the fare hike being sought by Grab.

“Kaya po nalito kami doon sa minimum fare compared to the based fare and in relation to the other factors to determine the fare,” he added.

The remark of Delgra came after Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) Partylist Rep. Jericho Nograles claimed that Grab’s P80 minimum fare was “illegal.”

Nograles said that the new base fare of Grab was not authorized by the LTFRB, and so making it “illegal.”

Delgra said four factors are considered in computing the total travel fare of the passenger: base fare, distance rate, the time rate, and the surge rate.

In a statement on Monday, Nograles said, “Without any public hearing, Grab Philippines again unilaterally imposed a new illegal fare condition. [D]uring the April 17 LTFRB hearing, Grab Philippines denied to the board that they impose an P80 minimum fare.”

“Now, no less than the Grab app publicly declares that the company charges the same minimum fare. This brazen act shows not only disrespect to the regulators, but proof that Grab Philippines has no intention to follow Philippine laws,” the lawmaker said.

“This is usurpation of the powers of the LTFRB and this is a violation of our existing laws. Just because they now have a virtual monopoly of our TNVS (transport network vehicle services) sector, they can now violate our laws by setting their own fare rates?” he added.

However, Grab said the company included the P80 minimum fare the same time they implemented the P2/min charge in June 2017. /vvp

READ: Grab says P80 base fare was authorized by LTFRB