LTFRB to review bid for more taxis

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 will look into a request for additional taxi units following a meeting with hotel managers and mall officials in Cebu City last week.

The meeting stemmed from a written request by Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino’s general manager Grant Raymond Jefferies to Sen. Paolo Bengino “Bam” Aquino, asking for help to address the supposed scarcity of taxis in Metro Cebu.

“This is our first time to receive this kind of information. It (letter) was endorsed to our office. Our recommendation to them as one group is to have a proper and comprehensive study on the need (for additional taxi units),” said LTFRB chairman Winston Ginez.

The closed-door meeting also called for a study to be done by the University of the Philippines–National Center for Transport Studies on the actual number of taxis servicing the Metro Cebu area.

“We need to know how many are needed right now in the next five years since these officials raised the prospect of more developments in Cebu City that are coming like the SM Seaside Mall and two more Ayala malls,” Ginez said.

Ginez reminded the officials to consider the possibilities of traffic congestion if more taxi units are allowed to operate in Metro Cebu.

“Yes, I told them they have to consider the effect on the roads and that they should get comments and suggestions of local government units on their proposal. We would like to coordinate with other cities,” he said.

In two weeks’ time, Ginez said a letter to conduct a comprehensive study will be forwarded to the office of Transportation and Communication Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.

At present, there are 5,700 taxi units operating in Cebu, slightly above the 5,000 taxi limit imposed by the LTFRB.

If the request is approved by the Department of Transportation and Industry (DOTC), there will be pre-qualification of applicants.

Ginez said applicants for taxi franchises should certify that they are Filipino citizens or a Filipino-owned corporation with sufficient financial capacity to operate their units.