No to TRO over applications on TVNS

Commuters in the street, heavy traffic, commuters ignored by drivers - these are the usual scenes on weekdays night in Makati. I commute daily and based on experience, it's but hard to get taxi from our place to work. I do not ride taxi often, I prefer jeepney because the fare is cheap. I only get to ride a taxi in going to airport and Sampaloc. Just recently, on the 2nd day the TRO was effective, my friends and I were so happy that it did not affect the operations. Otherwise, we might have spent another hour just to wait for taxi. After the party, we went to the queue of taxis. Sad that the drivers were sleeping, it was past 12mn though. My friend tired contacting taxi drivers through GrabTaxi. At first, we were feeling hopeless for nobody answers. We doubted if the TRO was really meant to restrict application to operate only. After a few minutes, a taxi driver replied and we were able drive home safely.

Transport Network Vehicle Service (TVNS) such as Uber and GrabCar offers a lot more convenient, safe, and fast way to get taxi. I only get to know GrabCar last year, when my friend who works in BGC is being serviced by GrabCar. She told me that some of the cars she used to ride on were of known brands. It was convenient as compared to taxi according to her. I have an officemate who comes from Las Pinas and who wants to avoid traffic by going to office early through GrabCar. Both of them testified and even on the articles I read from the internet how convenient they were in using the applications.

Public transport services are supposedly for public service. We heard of stories and news where certain crimes such as holdup and robbery made inside taxis. Through Uber and GrabCar, the passenger and taxi is tracked and can be traced immediately. Making it safer to use.

On the otherhand, we can avoid commuting through taxis who do not used meter charging and who charge by a fixed price. By using GrabCar and Uber, you can decline their service even before riding on it. However, one must pay and accept the fee charged by the driver on top of the bill per meter. But at least, not so overpriced as compared to those who do not use their meters.

We must accept evolution. From simple queuing over taxi stops now reserving taxis through applications. People want convenience as much as possible. With the stressful scenarios at work and everywhere, at least people would want to relax even on just simple contacting of taxi drivers. I think it would be best if the persons proposing restraint upon TVNS adopt this kind of system.