For a month starting today, our Uber apps are useless.
You can free some space in your smartphone for now (the app takes up at least 120MB, by the way) because yesterday afternoon, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) prohibited the ride-hailing company from operating for a solid month.
This is because of Uber’s “predatory actions,” according to the LTFRB’s cease-and-desist order. When the board told transport network companies to stop accepting and activating new drivers into their systems starting July 26, Uber didn’t. They have accepted three drivers since then.
According to the order, the company’s move to continue to accredit drivers was “not about pushing innovation in the context of fair regulation,” but “unduly challenging the limit of fair regulation to continue to engage in business in this country.”
You know who else Uber’s suspension is counterproductive for? Sixty-six thousand drivers who swipe, drive, pickup, and drop off commuters for a living.
For this, LTFRB proposed that Uber should offer the drivers financial assistance “as an expression of good faith.”
‘Cruel and absurd’
However, in a Facebook post, Senator Grace Poe wrote that this suspension from the Board worsens the “problem of having an utter lack of safe, reliable, and convenient transportation options for our people.” It was “cruel and absurd.”
“The penalty should not further prejudice the public and place the riders’ well-being at risk by limiting their options,” reads the post. To the senator, LTFRB didn’t consider the interest of the riding public when they came up with the suspension order, as “Uber’s competitor admits that it is unable to service all those who try to book with them.”
Because of this, Poe plans on meeting the LTFRB officials at the Senate tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.
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