Right smack into the holiday season, a Quezon City court has decided adversely against the operations of application-based transportation service providers Uber and GrabCar in the Philippines.
Branch 217 of the Regional Trial Court of the city has slapped a 20-day temporary restraining order on the accreditation of new transport network vehicle service units as embodied in Department Order 2015-011of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board under the Department of Transportation and Communications.
While the operations will continue, no new applications for TNVS units will be processed and approved.
The court decided on the petition of the Angat Tsuper Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator ng Pilipinas Genuine Organization Transport Coalition, Incorporated, or STOP and GO.
According to the transport coalition, the operation of Grabcar and Uber has had negative impact on the income of its members—drivers and operators of taxi and UV Express units.
The public does not begrudge STOP and GO and other similar groups the option to seek redress in the courts. After all, they exist precisely to champion the interest of their members.
We cannot help wondering: Who will defend the interest of the commuting public with very few options for getting around the metropolis?
Given debilitating traffic, driving a vehicle would be counterproductive and expensive. With frequent instances of the MRT bogging down, taking the train would be unpredictable and sometimes unsafe.
The hapless commuters, mostly the middle class who must toil away on their jobs every day for a fixed income (a significant percentage of which is taken from them through inequitable taxes), also have to deal with taxi drivers who refuse to convey them, “request” for exorbitant tips, or display rude behavior—sometimes all at the same time.
It’s bound to get uglier with the Christmas rush.
What options are left, then, for the ordinary office worker to get from one place to another given these limitations? Often, the passenger decides to scrimp on other things —food, personal effects—just so he or she can afford the small comfort of settling into a vehicle without negotiating with arrogant drivers, or suffering the indignities of squeezing oneself into a crowd of train riders after a harrowing day at work.
Good for the taxi drivers who have their federation to defend them. Perhaps the federation could also do something to educate some of the drivers who act as though they were doing passengers a favor when they agree to convey them.
This skewed situation would not be even here in the first place if all who are supposed to deliver the public service of transportation did so fairly and conscientiously.
People use services like Uber and GrabCar because the alternatives are awful. Limiting this option without improving other modes of public transportation is just another way this government oppresses the most taxed and overworked—but the least served—segment of society.