Viral video: Taxi fare overcharging, rogue cabbies face crackdown in Manila

Manila: A rogue taxi driver who allegedly overcharged his passengers for a short ride between two airport terminals in Manila has landed in the soup.

A video of the suspected predator cabbie shows him gouging out an equivalent of $22.11 from a passenger for a 5-km ride.

The video has since become viral.

It turned out that the Taxi Hub unit he drove (and the other units in the group) was operating with an expired franchise.

The clip shows the rogue cabbie allegedly charging Php1,260 ($22.30) for the ride from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Unlike most airports, NAIA has no system to let passengers move between terminals without leaving the airport and taking a taxi or private car.

Standard New York taxi fare (one of the world’s priciest cab rates) is $3.00 (Php171) for the initial charge, and then $0.70 (Php40) for every 1/5 mile travelled or 60 seconds of waiting time, as per the city government (nyc.gov). 

This translates roughly to about $1.55 per km (Php89) for distance, and $0.50 per minute (about Php27) for waiting time. 

The now-viral Manila airport ride, using New York rates and including the toll fee, shouldn’t have cost more than Php650 ($11.37).

Exorbitant taxi fare

Many of Manila’s run-down taxi units have not only become eyesores, but certain cabbies have become outright rogues preying on returning “kababayans” (countrymen) or visitors.

Franchise system

Taxis operate under a franchising system. By law, old-school taxi metres must be periodically calibrated and inspectors must do audits, or checks.

Now, a “cleanup” is underway.

Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon has launched a crackdown on rogue taxi operations at the country’s main aviation gateway, ordering a focused sweep across all three airport terminals amid growing concerns over persistent “colorum” (illegal) or unlicensed cab drivers.

“If these taxi drivers do not want to lose in the competition with TNVS (transport network vehicle service), they should shape up and stop their brazen greediness,” Dizon said in a press briefing at the LTO headquarters in Quezon City, where he watched the now-viral video of the Manila taxi driver his passenger.

Acting on the orders of President Marcos, Dizon directed the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), together with police and airport officials, to go after “these taxis that prey on our kababayan and our visitors, charging exorbitant fares.”

Licence suspended

According to Dizon, the LTO has suspended the driver's license for now, but after an investigation, it will be revoked.

The LTFRB, on the other hand, said it would confiscate the license plates of all 15 Taxi Hub Transport cabs, including the one driven by the viral cabbie, after the company’s franchise was found to have expired in March.

The Board's Chair Teofilo Guadiz III added that a show-cause order would be issued to the owner explaining why she should not be sanctioned for operating colorum taxi cabs.

“All of the 15 taxi units of Taxi Hub have been running colorum for three months. They have a lot of nerve being colorum and still overcharging their passengers,” Dizon said.

Franchise revoked

“Well, now, you will feel the full force of the law. The entire fleet [of Taxi Hub] will no longer operate again in the future,” he added.

Aside from having their franchise or provisional authority revoked, operators of colorum vehicles shall be fined Php120,000 for each colorum taxi, or a total of Php1.8 million for the entire 15 cabs in Taxi Hub’s fleet.