Uber Philippines

[CVT]

Nope, from what I understand grabtaxi uses existing taxis with franchises kaya ok sila, it's like sila lang naging center command.

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Competition is good. It kills the greedy b*st*rds, who are protected by their cartel...

The archaic law and its selective implementation is a hindrance to free market.

Entrepreneurship? Hello?

(Now, what would have happened if they did this earlier to internet shopping or budget airlines for example?)


“The measure of a man is what he does with power – LJIOHF!”
24.8K:stone:

[jut703]

Nope, from what I understand grabtaxi uses existing taxis with franchises kaya ok sila, it's like sila lang naging center command.


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Yes that's my point actually - that they operate the same but one is governed by a franchise while the other isn't.

Technically Uber is very much like a taxi service, so if we had no choice and they had to be boxed in one if the existing categories, then the taxi is the closest match. However, the progressive way to go is to review the emerging business model of app-controlled transpo-sharing and draft new laws to cover them.


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[shadow]

Well, if uber can't respect and follow our law, they can take their business elsewhere.

So what if it's very convenient to the riding public. State can't bend to the whims of uber.

Kung gusto ninyo magnegosyo dito, sumunod kayo hinde Sa existing law ng pinas


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[lowslowbenz]

ano ba itong uber-uber na ito?

tagal ko na nababasa sa news ito ..........

[baludoy]

Lawmaker wants LTFRB probed for suspending Uber
By KATHRYN MAE P. TUBADEZA, GMA NewsOctober 27, 2014 6:49pm


A lawmaker will file this week a resolution asking a House committee to probe why the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) suspended ride-sharing services company Uber from doing business.

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon, in a text message to GMA News Online on Monday, said he "will file an inquiry the soonest by the end of the week.

"I will file it for referral to the committee on Metro Manila development," he said.

In an emailed statement, Ridon said the LTFRB should reconsider its position on suspending the services of Uber.

"The LTFRB should reconsider its position on suspending the operations of Uber," he said, adding Uber offers a new level of convenience though it may be violating the law.

"Technology and government regulation need not clash with each other. LTFRB should find means for Uber to operate legally. It can, for example, explore the possibility of issuing special permits for Uber vehicles," Ridon said.

Commuters using the Uber app can hire a ride and choose the car type then pay via credit card.

The company founded in 2009 is now present over 200 cities.

LTFRB has ruled Uber should be covered by a franchise, and has started going after Uber vehicles.

In an interview last week, LTFRB officer Dennis Bario said the fines for vehicles used in Uber's services are P120,000 for sedans and P200,000 for utility vehicles.

Seized vehicles will be impounded for at least three months by the Land Transportation Office.

A Toyata Fortuner was the first Uber vehicle apprehended by LTFRB.

The Metro Manila Development Authority, on the other hand, claimed Uber is not violating the Public Service Law.

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentio, in a statement posted on Twitter, said "Uber or hybrid carpooling is a well-meaning technology-driven effort intended for public safety and convenience that's why people are patronizing it. We cannot curtail their mobility rights." – VS, GMA News

Lawmaker wants LTFRB probed for suspending Uber | Economy | GMA News Online

[Altis6453]

A good article from Dr. Cielito Habito from today's Inquirer:

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is under fire from irate netizens following last week’s sting operation that led to the apprehension of a private car owner hiring out rides under the Uber network. One news report described it as a case of government regulators trying to play catch-up with technology. I see it as a reason why we need to revisit restrictive laws and regulations designed for a bygone era, which technological developments have rendered obsolete if not outright counterproductive.

I first heard about Uber nearly two years ago from US-based relatives, who are all raves about the service, as are those who are now up in arms here about the LTFRB’s action. Described as a “ride-sharing” scheme, Uber puts car owners/drivers in touch with people who would be willing to pay them for a ride between pre-specified points in the city. It relies on a smartphone application to connect passengers with available participating drivers, who are carefully screened and regularly monitored. Fares are pre-agreed, payments are cashless (via credit card), and one can even track the hired car’s location in real time. The service is now reportedly available in more than 100 cities in 45 countries worldwide. The LTFRB is similarly training its sights on homegrown Tripid, described as an open carpooling system that also uses the smartphone platform to connect riders with trip providers. What makes these services so popular is that they are widely seen as a convenient and safe way to travel.

What particularly irks Uber fans is the LTFRB’s insistence that it is merely trying to protect the welfare and safety of the riding public. To many, this comes as a big joke in light of the all-too-common experience with taxis refusing passengers, and the high incidence of crimes by or in connivance with taxi drivers. It is in fact these very risks with taxis that drives people to use Uber, Tripid and their variants. The LTFRB makes no secret of how its action was prompted by a complaint from the Philippine National Taxi Operators Association (PNTOA), unhappy about competition from what is increasingly seen by riders as a superior service. But neither

the LTFRB nor PNTOA appears able to come up with a satisfactory way to police the ranks of the taxi industry to prevent such untoward incidents. So who is the LTFRB really protecting from whom?

Even then, the issue is not unique to the Philippines. Uber, understandably, has met with similar protests from the taxi industry in other countries where it operates. The LTFRB recognizes that it has no jurisdiction over the Uber company itself, which does not directly provide transport services, but is a technology company “through whose application, private unlicensed vehicles are able to engage in public land transportation without securing a franchise from the LTFRB.”

Uber adherents counter that the LTFRB has no business meddling into private agreements between riders and trip providers, or in voluntary carpooling or ride-sharing among commuters, which are essentially what Uber and Tripid facilitate through their apps. “It’s no different from one asking to be driven by a neighbor in his car to the airport for an agreed payment,” argues a netizen, except that Uber makes it possible to find that ride well beyond one’s neighborhood. And a “Big Brother” government may be going a bit too far to insist on watching out for the involved parties all the time, when they can well watch out for themselves in such bilateral transactions. Uber and the others in fact go a step further and help protect the transacting parties via a rigorous screening process on partner drivers, and through a user-driven rating system that helps weed out known bad performers on both sides.

If government’s concern is to tax such transactions, then Uber’s cashless payments system makes it even easier to enforce a taxation mechanism not possible under informal cash-based neighbor-to-neighbor car hire or carpooling schemes. That should not be the concern of the LTFRB, however, but of the tax authorities.

There’s much wider significance to all this. There’s such a thing as regulatory overreach, and the Uber issue, to my mind, is but one example. I have also argued before that there need not be such things as “colorum” cargo trucks. I don’t see why government must have to issue franchises for a service that, like an Uber ride, amounts to a private bilateral contract, in this case between a cargo shipper and a truck owner (the same reasoning applies to cargo ships). With adequate competition—and a policy framework that fosters, not inhibits it, as franchising actually does—the market would ensure that satisfactory services are provided that are commensurate to fees paid. The less government pokes its nose unnecessarily into everybody’s business, the livelier the economy becomes.

Legally defined, a “public utility,” which by law requires a franchise, “provides a service or facility needed for present day living that cannot be denied to anyone willing to pay for it.” Electric power, water or mass transport services are clear examples. But the US Supreme Court once stated, in a ruling that has shaped our own jurisprudence as well, that “a private enterprise doing business under private contracts with customers of its choice and therefore not devoted to public use” cannot be a public utility.

It’s time that we revisited our official definition of public utilities, which is still guided by the archaic Public Service Act of 1936. Rapid technological developments demand it. And overall consumer welfare, along with our investment attractiveness, crucially hinges on it as well.

[shadow]

Checked out their apps and registered, ano difference ng uberblack and uberx?


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[dr. d]

i like singapore.
over there, i get to ride late model MBs.. and there's relatively little traffic.

[Walter]

UberX is similar to EasyTaxi & GrabTaxi. Uber Black is supposed to be a more premium service with higher rates. The confusion stems from UberBlack's promotional rates being priced close to EasyTaxi & GrabTaxi rates.

UberX = Economy cars
Uber Black = "High" end cars

[_Cathy_]

Shadow use my promocode! we both get P300 free.

Uberx subcompact cars (vios and wigo etc) Uber black bigger cars (montero, fortuner, altis, sonata, tucson etc).

My officemates and I love uberx. Some of my friends rarely bring their cars to work na nga.

[jut703]

Interestingly, the Altis was downgraded from Uber Black to Uber X.

Last I rode was a 1.6G MT Altis for Uber X. Before, I rode a 1.6E Altis for Uber Black.

They're becoming more competitive I guess. UberX is just about 20 pesos more expensive than a regular taxi, and definitely cheaper than GrabTaxi.


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[_Cathy_]

^Wow really? That's good for Uber X customers then to include the Altis The last time I rode uber black I got a 2009 or 2010 Black Tucson.

[shadow]

Interesting...how much is the fare difference between x and black? Then how would you know if yun na Ang kotse ng uber?


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[_Cathy_]

I forgot the regular fare but sometimes Uber black comes out cheaper depending on the "surge"

Uber will indicate in the app the plate number, car model and name of the driver. Normally the driver will call you too.

They also send an email of the details of your ride:

[_Qwerty_]

so can you choose the car?

[jut703]

so can you choose the car?

Not really. Once you send out the signal that you're ready to get picked up, whichever driver confirms first is the one assigned to you.

However, once you see which car is assigned, you can cancel within 2 minutes. Then you can try again, hopefully with a better car.

I tried it once - first car was an Accent, then I cancelled and when I tried again it was an Altis. Not sure though how it affected my rating as a rider (drivers get to see passenger ratings and if you're a jerk they can opt not to pick you up).


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[_Qwerty_]

ok so kahit anong car dumating same rate?

[jodski]

http://technology.inquirer.net/39177...ounds-uber-car

Nakikihuli na rin MMDA

[shadow]

http://technology.inquirer.net/39177...ounds-uber-car

Nakikihuli na rin MMDA

They have denied it. Not true


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[shadow]

Where do you get yun code? So paano Kung walang available?

Saka paano yun matrix nila? Ano yun surge? Saka bakit meron per minute charging so iba pa yun sa per KM?

Hinde pala pwede paypal Ang payment I had to registered with my CC.

ang kinakatakot ko lang paano pag walang available? Kaya having second thought of using their service.

Who owns these cars?


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