MANILA – Ride-hailing firm Grab on Monday denied allegations that it was jacking up fares after taking over the operations of its former rival Uber in the country.

“Actually, iyung fare ng Grab has always been admittedly higher than the fare of Uber,” said Leo Gonzales, head of Public Affairs of Grab Philippines.

Gonzales explained in an interview with DZMM radio that Uber charged P5.70 per kilometer while Grab’s fares range from P11 to P14.

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Prior to December last year, Uber was able to make up for the difference by imposing surge pricing that was 4 to 5 times its base rate. But the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board capped surge pricing to just 2 times the normal fare.

LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada has said that Uber later filed a petition to raise its fares to P12 per kilometer.

Amid complaints that booking rides on Uber had become more difficult since its acquisition by Grab, Gonzales said thousands of Uber driver-operators had been busy filing their applications with Grab, thus reducing the number of Uber vehicles available for booking.

He added that during the Holy Week holidays, many drivers also went on vacation, which reduced the supply of available cars and also caused prices to rise.

Gonzales meanwhile said Grab has committed to support Uber’s app in the Philippines up to April 15, but was unsure if it could keep Uber online beyond this date as the cost was “prohibitive.”

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Grab, which is based in Singapore, was ordered by the city-state’s anti-trust watchdog to keep Uber’s app online up to April 15, while Singaporean authorities review the Grab-Uber deal.

Philippine competition authorities meanwhile have ordered Grab to keep Uber online until it finished its own review of the deal, which it said may take at least month.

Gonzales however warned that while Grab can keep Uber online, the app itself already had very limited functionality as it was no longer being supported by Uber, which had already laid off its staff as it exited Southeast Asia.

He echoed Lizada’s earlier statement that this posed a risk to people who would book a ride with Uber.

“It is unsafe. It is in fact dangerous. Kapag may aksidente po diyan, who is going to answer for that?”

The LTFRB also said Uber’s accreditation has already expired.

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