Yup. That wasn't a hook just to get you in. This is real. LTFRB Chairman Ginez has threatened to jail the developers of two apps Tripid and Uber (the latter was launched only today) that connects drivers offering a ride and passengers needing one. He claims that they are in breach of the public service code; they feel they are only helping to ease congestion and improve the wretched state of our public transportation system.
So who is right?
On one hand, the chairman has a very valid point. Let's face it, this is, in principle or theory, a collorum set up after all––albeit for a good cause––and his office has every right to regulate any franchise that ferries members of the public.
The app developer, however, is not ferrying members of the public. They are merely providing a tool that connects people. If they go to jail, then so should Globe, Sun, Smart, Facebook, Twitter, you see where I'm going with this, right? hell, he may as well lock the entire Oplan Hatid group up and throw away the key, or have us pick it up in Cedric Lee's house.
But that tool, the chairman claims, is allowing people to commit a crime. Fair enoigh. So we may as well lock up the guys who made hammers and baseball caps––they were, after all, banned recently from malls.
But let's get serious here. There's merit in both sides. I think the only issue here is the exchange of money.
Perhaps the good chairman could just demand that this program be funded purely by a sense of community and not cash.
If he did, I'm curious to know, would you use it?
