The number of motorcycle taxis operating in the National Capital Region (NCR) remains at 45,000 since three years ago, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said as it denied reports of uncontrolled increase in its number.
LTFRB chairperson Teofilo Guadiz III was reacting to the concerns raised by transport groups about the uncontrolled increase in the number of motorcycle taxis which are now affecting 50 percent of their daily income.
Guadiz, however, said that the LTFRB did not increase its number: “LTFRB did not increase the number of MC taxis in NCR. It was pegged at 45,000 three years ago. It still stands at 45,000. All the allegations are false and misleading.”
He, however, said that the increase was in Central Luzon and Region IV with 4,000 each.
Guadiz also belied allegations that the Technical Working Group (TWG) for MC taxi did not submit the result of study, which became the basis of the passage of a bill at the House of Representatives.
"House Bill 10571 or the motorcycle taxi bill which aims to provide a safe and economical public transportation option by regulating the use of motorcycles was passed by congressmen last October,” said Guadiz.
“The bill is now at the Senate Committee on Transportation for deliberations for the eventual approval of its Senate version of the Motorcycle Taxi Law," Guadiz added as he noted that the decrease in the ridership was a result of the change in work pattern among employees.
The LTFRB chairperson said that the allegations the TWG for MC taxi did not submit any report is false, as a report was submitted to the House Committee on Transport and to the Senate Committee on Transportation.
Such a report of the TWG report, according to Guadiz, was the basis for the passage of the bill by the House solons.