Ride-hailing newbie allowed to resume operation

Ride-hailing service provider InDrive officially resumed its operations after being suspended for about six months as its price-haggling scheme had violated the fare matrix system.

The Land Transportation, Franchise and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) lifted the cease and desist order this month following InDrive’s removal of its price-haggling feature. This was against the fare matrix scheme followed by transportation network vehicle service (TNVS) operators, which consider flag-down rate, per-kilometer, per-minute and surge fees in the fare computation.

Afanasii Petrov, InDrive business development manager for Southeast Asia, welcomed the LTFRB’s decision.

InDrive received its accreditation as a transport network company in December last year but was suspended a month later.

“Filipinos need more options for ride-hailing services as much as drivers need more sources of income. We believe that our app and this partnership will significantly bridge the gaps in the industry,” he said in a statement on Friday.

READ: TNVS urges LTFRB to regulate commission rates of ride-hailing apps

Along with this, InDrive has teamed up with local transport group Laban TNVS to grow the number of its partner-drivers.

InDrive will not collect commission fees for up to six months to boost drivers’ take-home pay. Thereafter, they will be charged 10 percent— lower than the industry average of 20 percent.

InDrive has about 6,000 partner-drivers, bulk of whom are in Metro Manila.

It targets to have about 20,000 drivers in the capital and 3,000 outside the capital by the end of the year.