Deadline for taxi sequence numbers on January 31

Cebu - The Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board is giving taxi operators until January 31 to secure a Taxi Sequence Numbering System for their units.

LTFRB regional director Romulo Bernardes told The FREEMAN yesterday that this was the agreement reached during their two-day conference at their head office which ended yesterday.

Bernardes added that effective February 1, taxi units without any TSNS will be apprehended. The first offense will merit a fine of P2,000, suspension of franchise for the second offense and cancellation of franchise for the third.

Upon registration of the taxi unit with the TSNS, a taxi’s plate number and franchise number are linked to a four-digit sequence, which is stored in the LTFRB-7 database.

The sequence starts from 0001 and ends in 6137, which is the total number of registered taxis in Central Visayas.

Taxi operators are required to paint the four-digit sequence on both sides of the taxi. Each digit must be four inches wide and eight inches high, and must be bright red. With this, passengers will only have to remember the four-digit number instead of the taxi’s license plate number in case of violations.

Meanwhile, Bernardes said that LTFRB will not hastily implement the taxi receipt system but will instead gradually implement it starting June or July this year to give taxi operators a grace period to adjust to the new system.

He however said that the guidelines for this new system will be out next week.

The receipt will include the date and time of travel and the plate number of the taxi unit.

LTFRB chairman Thompson Lantion earlier said that taxi units that have no metered receipts will not be allowed to register. All meters issuing receipts must be registered with the BIR.

The meter receipt scheme, which is seen to address the problem of overcharging, must be approved by the Bureau of Internal Revenue before the LTFRB allows the registration of a taxi.

It can be recalled that taxi operators questioned the scheme before the Court of Appeals but their petition was dismissed. They elevated the matter to the Supreme Court which also favored LTFRB’s new measure.

The implementation of the meter receipt scheme is aimed at protecting commuters from taxicabs with rigged meters. It is also aimed at monitoring and improving revenue collection. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP  (THE FREEMAN)