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MANILA – The country’s transport regulator would lift a one-month suspension on Uber Technologies, Inc. if the latter paid a P190-million penalty, a fine nearly 20 times greater than Uber had offered to pay.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said Uber also needed to collectively pay its drivers nearly P20 million daily as financial assistance during the suspension period.
There was no immediate comment from Uber.
The regulator halted Uber’s operations for a month from Aug. 14 for disregarding a directive to stop accepting new driver applications.
Uber, which said it did not process those applications, later told the LTFRB it could pay a fine of P10 million to get the suspension lifted.
The Uber freeze has attracted public attention because many commuters regard the ride-hailing app as more reliable and competitive than mainstream transport services.
Uber recently said it had nearly 67,000 Philippine drivers.
The LTFRB said the penalty was calculated by “taking into consideration the number of days that (Uber) should be suspended in relation to the daily average income.”
Citing data submitted by Uber, the LTFRB said it had daily income of up to P10 million from at least 150,000 trips. The fine took into account the remaining suspension period of 19 days, said LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada.
“The lifting of suspension will depend on the payment of fine and remittance of financial assistance,” Lizada told reporters in a text message.
The dispute with the LTFRB was the latest setback this year to Uber, a firm valued at more than $60 billion.
Its suspension in the Philippines caused a spike in demand for rival Grab, and long queues near offices and malls and some disgruntlement about reverting to using regular taxis.
Sen. Grace Poe, a prominent advocate for improving transport services, tried to bring Uber and LTFRB officials together to work out a compromise. An executive of Uber apologized for its “misunderstanding.”
Poe said the hefty fine should “make Uber rethink its actions and reevaluate its strategy in testing the extent of government regulations.”
The LTFRB last year suspended applications for ride-share operators to work out how best to regulate the industry. It said Uber was “irresponsible” for challenging that order. (Reuters)
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