THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has approved the accreditation of two ride-hailing companies.
LTFRB Chairman Martin Delgra III and board members Aileen Lizada and Ronaldo Corpus on Wednesday signed Accreditation Numbers 2018-TNC-001 and 2018-TNC-002 allowing Hype Transport Systems Inc. and Hirna Mobility Solutions to operate for two years.
Meanwhile, the LTFRB has ordered Grab Philippines to stop imposing a 2-peso-per-minute travel charge to its riders. The board ordered My Taxi.Ph Inc. to immediately suspend the imposition of its two-peso charge.
Grab earlier said it imposed the charge to its riders to ensure sustainable income for its drivers, adding that 80 percent of the charge goes to drivers as part of their earnings.
The remaining 20 percent is remitted to Grab, which the company reinvests for driver incentives and passenger promos.
In the House, Rep. Jericho Nograles on Thursday accused Grab Philippines of using its drivers as an excuse to avoid giving a refund to its overcharged passengers.
He threatened to file criminal charges against Grab if it continued to pass on to its drivers the cost of the refunds.
“Make no mistake: the moment Grab tries to demand the refund from their drivers, I will be the first to file a complaint of large-scale estafa and syndicated estafa against Grab Philippines,” Nograles said.
Lizada said the ride-hailing companies could begin operations once they received their accreditation papers, giving commuters other options for ride-hailing services aside from Grab Philippines.
Hype is among the ride-hailing companies that the LTFRB was expecting to apply for accreditation, and after Uber sold its Southeast Asia operations to Grab. Uber formally closed down on April 16.
Hirna is a ride-hailing app for taxis available in Davao, but it is looking to expand across the country.
The other companies waiting for approval are Owto, Go Lag and MiCab.