Conclusion
COMMUTERS cringe at the sight of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa) during rush hours, knowing they only have a few options in navigating it.
One is to ride the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, which offers passengers with very little space to breathe after a full day’s work. Another is to stay at the workplace, kill time and wait for the congestion to subside.
The third option is to take a cab. But this could be pricey at times, |especially if the driver insists on getting a few extra pesos because the road is congested.
But another option emerged when transport network companies (TNCs) entered the Philippine market in 2014, carrying a set of goals with them, including the introduction and the promotion of the ride-sharing lifestyle.
The culture of ride sharing, or carpooling, is common in many parts of the world, mostly in the West. But, in the Philippines, the concept is relatively new.
Save money
The concept of carpooling is one of the reasons Ronald Santos, an owner of a two-year-old sedan, is seriously looking into registering his vehicle with a TNC.
“I’m considering the prospect, since I am always on the road,” said Santos, a food technician who lives in Marikina City.
With his work based in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, the 27-year-old professional usually shells out at least P300 for his daily ride.
“Traffic is really bad, and the cost of maintaining the car, plus burning gas for no reason at all due to the congestion, is not friendly to my pocket,” Santos said.
Hence, by becoming a partner-driver at either one of the TNCs, he could offset the cost and use the money that he saved for his leisure.
“Maybe I could buy a new badminton racket with the money that I could save. It will be of great help. Still, I will look into that prospect and weigh my chances,” Santos said.
For Diane Reyes, who got tired of her four-hour commute to Makati City from Novaliches in Quezon City and vice-versa, ride-sharing apps have been very helpful to her and her peers.
“My friends usually share the ride. The Uber driver does not complain if we drop off people in Cubao, in North Edsa and other places. One time, we even ask the driver to take us to a friend’s place just to pick her up, it was kind of out of the way, but he did not complain,” said Reyes, a multimedia specialist.
Although it is her debit card that is registered with Uber, her friends chip in to pay for the fare.
“It has dual benefit: I saved money, and I could relax,” she said.
Reyes now lives in an apartment space near Washington Street in Makati, but she confessed that she is still an Uber fan.
“I still use Uber, especially when I’m rushing for a meeting. You pay exactly the same with the metered taxi, and sometimes it’s even lower than the taxi rates,” she said.
Maximize your asset
Uber Manila General Manager Lawrence Cua said these developments show that Filipinos are now open to the concept of ride sharing.
“People are starting to share an Uber ride. It’s heartwarming when drivers tell us that people are now open to the idea of ride sharing,” he said. Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Chairman Winston M. Ginez explained that these are forms of asset maximization that the TNCs have carried with them when they entered Manila.
“Ride sharing is all about asset maximization. People have seen how efficient this concept is, and we encourage people to use them,” Ginez said.
Cua agreed that sharing an Uber ride, or being an Uber driver, could turn costs into savings.
“We are now seeing less and less people using their private vehicles. Parking is costly in Makati—that alone is already a burden to private-car owners. With Uber people now have this option not to drive and spend P5,000 for the parking alone. Add to that the cost for gas. People could generate savings out of this app,” he said.
Increased production
Not only do these TNCs help save costs to the consumers, it also helps commuters be more productive.
GrabCar Acting General Manager Natasha Bautista said private- vehicle owners now have the luxury of working behind the car, instead of being behind the wheel.
“I don’t want to be stuck in traffic while driving and wasted an hour for it. What I could do is to get a ride via GrabTaxi or GrabCar and I can work at the back seat,” she said.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has predicted that the Philippines stands to incur P6 billion in productivity losses due to the traffic congestion starting 2030. This is on a daily basis.
Currently, Manila is losing P2 billion a day due to the transport-infrastructure backlog.
Partially free up Edsa
Companies such as Uber and GrabCar also help in opening up portions of congested roads, especially when people start to share the ride.
“GrabCar exists for ride sharing. If one company has about 10 vehicle owners that choose not to use their cars on a daily basis and use our services instead, imagine its effect on Edsa,” Bautista said. “They could share a ride or two, which can pick them up and drop them off along a certain route. We can help free up the traffic in Manila.”
Cua added: “Instead of paying for gas, parking, and instead of driving along busy streets, now people have the option. It frees up parking, and as more and more people share a car, we will be seeing lesser cars on the road.”
Not for everyone, but inclusive
Both company and government officials admitted that these types of services are not for everyone. But it does not mean they are not inclusive. An Uber ride, for example, can only be paid via credit or debit card. Its transactions are cashless.
World Bank data showed that only 31 percent of Filipinos have bank accounts and only 18 percent of all adults in the poorest 40 percent of households in the Philippines have bank accounts.
“Nobody is forcing people to use Uber. We are opening up options to people. At the end of the day, it’s all about choice. People are given a choice, and they vote by their wallets,” Cua said.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya emphasized that the entry of these kinds of services in the Philippine market promotes the government’s drive for social inclusion. “Providing the public with an additional option in public transportation is precisely for social inclusion—that is as clear as day,” he said.
The Cabinet official said he is dumbfounded as to why critics are saying these companies promote social exclusivity. Leftist groups pointed out that applications like Uber and GrabCar widen the gap between the poor and the rich.
“What is interesting is why such critics would prefer to deprive people, especially those with limited options to begin with, of more alternatives,” Abaya said.
Challenge to taxi drivers and operators
Abaya added that these app-based, ride-hailing companies give taxi operators and drivers the needed nudge for them to improve their services.
“It encourages other public-utility vehicles (PUVs), such as taxis, to innovate and improve their services by modernizing their fleet; adopting technology to improve their services, such as the use of GPS and Waze; and raising the standards for their drivers among others,” he said.
Ginez added: “I know and understand that TNCs are not for everyone. There is still a market for taxis. And while TNCs impose a competition with taxis, in a way, it should help in upgrading our taxis—that is now our challenge to them.”
But Philippine National Taxi Operators Association President Jesus Manuel C. Suntay is not convinced.
He pointed out that taxi services have already improved, saying that the government should look at another angle to this issue.
“We have already improved our services. Yes, there are still taxis that are not entirely good, but these are just small cases. We, as an industry, are being generalized,” Suntay said. He added that those taxis that have dismal services continue to operate because the LTFRB allowed them.
“Was it not the LTFRB that issued the franchise, that checks if the unit is still roadworthy? If there are old taxi units along the road, who, in effect, dispatched them?” Suntay emphasized.
He also called on Ginez to seriously look into the supposed malpractice of TNCs.
Under LTFRB rules, taxi drivers are barred from naming a specific price to a customer and are mandated to use a meter. They are also not allowed to choose their customers.
“But these TNCs, Uber and GrabCar, are the ones that name the price to their customers. They also choose the ones that they pick up. There is no crime in their part. But when a taxi driver does that, it is illegal. How unfair is that?” the chief of the taxi operators group lamented.
Taxi drivers, he said, resort to these kinds of practices because they don’t get paid all too well. “If we want quality drivers, let’s allow them to have quality income,” he said.
Innovate further
Maintaining that TNCs are here to stay, Abaya reminded them that they should comply with the requirements of the law.
Ginez also warned Uber, which still does not have a license to operate, that he will go after the company should it continue operating even without filing for a provisional authority to offer taxi-like services.
“We can penalize them, go after them and reimpose our anti-colorum drive. But they have feelers that they are going to apply, and we will give them a deadline,” he said.
The transport chief also challenged these operators to further innovate and improve their services.
“The only help—and, at the same time, obligation—needed from them is to continue providing decent, safe, convenient and efficient services to commuters. Beyond that, we have required access to some degree of origin-destination data, which they are able to collect easily because of GPS technology. This helps in transportation planning. Last, it would be a bonus if they could innovate even further, and in the process, encourage other PUVs to, likewise, adopt to these innovations for the benefit of the public,” he said.
Cua and Bautista assured that they will continue to be more innovative in providing tech-based services to the Filipino public.
“We are open to more competition, as it helps us improve ourselves,” Bautista added.
Abaya also hopes that there will be more TNCs to emerge in the coming months.
“It is our hope that other TNCs enter the industry, to provide more options to riders. We also hope that Filipino app developers are able to take advantage of this opportunity to create their own software, as well. Most important, we want other PUVs—such as taxis—to innovate, modernize and improve their services, rather than to be left behind,” he said.
Image credits: AP