OVER three-quarters of transport network vehicle service (TNVS) passengers experienced higher fares and difficulty in allocation ever since Grab’s supply dwindled by more than a tenth last week.
This emerged from an online survey conducted by commuter network The Passenger Forum (TPF) over the weekend. The finding was that 78 percent of passengers “suffered more frequent and expensive fares due to surge pricing.”
Respondents in the survey also ranked “availability of TNVS units on the road” as the leading factor in surge pricing, with “heavy traffic” and “decision of TNVS provider” at second and third spots.
“Aside from more frequent and higher fares, our survey also found out that 72 percent of TNVS passengers experienced difficulty in booking after the June 10 deactivation of TNVS units,” Primo Morillo, TPF convenor, said.
To recall, Grab deactivated 5,000 of its TNVS units due to their lack of proper license to operate. Grab earlier explained it had no choice but to yield to regulators. Grab has yet to respond to the BusinessMirror’s request for clarification.
Morillo said the results of the survey only proves that commuters will bear the brunt of the mass deactivation of TNVS units.
“We are again calling on TNVS providers, especially Grab Philippines and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board [LTFRB], to work together to ensure that there will be more TNVS units available for commuters,” he said.
Morillo added that the regulator should consider increasing the 65,000-unit cap for TNVS to prevent a repeat of this incident.
“Besides preventing mass deactivations in the future, it is also best if the LTFRB can raise the cap for TNVS units,” he added.
He noted: “While the existence of TNVS provides a certain level of convenience and comfort to some commuters, the ultimate solution to the problems of the Filipino commuter dwells on the development of an affordable, quality and reliable mass transportation system.”
There were 100 respondents to the survey, whose majority claim to use Grab more than twice per day.
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