Taxi fare to be at par with Uber, Grab

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has approved a proposed fare structure to make taxis more competitive with transport network vehicles (TNVs), a move opposed by a party-list congressman.

LTFRB member Atty. Aileen Lizada said the proposed taxi fare matrix is based from the structure of those with TNVS.

Lizada said that in their proposed fare adjustment, the R40 flagdown rate will remain, but the running fare for every 300 meters and waiting time for every two minutes will increase to R5.50 from R3.50.

The fare, Lizada added, will be on per kilometer basis.

“So fare will be P40 plus the amount times kilometers plus the amount times number of minutes,” Lizada explained in a text message.

AANGAT TAYO party-list Rep. Neil Abayon strongly opposed the LTFRB move, saying it will “essentially price the taxis out of the market and push more people to ride TNVs.”

He branded as “wrong move” the LTFRB’ s decision to give in to pending petitions for taxi fare hikes.

“LTFRB officials really do not understand how economics works. It is very clear now that many commuters prefer the Transport Network Companies’ (TNCs’) TNVs over the taxis,” Abayon said.

He said that although the rates of the TNVs are higher than regular taxis, more commuters still prefer to book with TNCs because it is more convenient, has better security and safety measures for passengers, and the service quality is much better.

“For as long as the quality of the service of taxis does not improve, the riding public will still prefer to ride the TNCs’ TNVs units,” he said.

“So, if and when the LTFRB goes ahead with its plan to make taxi fares at par with the rates of TNCs, they will essentially price the taxis out of the market and push more people to ride the TNCs’ TNVS units instead of the taxis,” Abayon said.

He said such plan will lead to even less income for taxis instead of more income.

“By raising taxi fares, they give people who dislike taxis added reason not to ride taxis because TNCs are the better quality alternative,” he said.

However, Lizada said that even if taxis will almost have the same rate as TNVs, there will be no price surge for taxi denomination.

“All taxi units, their meters must be calibrated and only after calibration shall the fare structure takes effect,” she said.

LTFRB will release its official decision on the taxi fare adjustment by the end of the month.

Over the week, LTFRB Chairman Martin Delgra III announced that they will come up with a decision to increase taxi fares making it equal to the rates of Uber and Grab.