With the specific is of the pricing also made clearer for drivers and passengers.
On Friday, December 12, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) announce that its has set temporary adjustment that will reduce the fare computation for ride-hailing services during the peak hours and other high-demand time period such over the holiday season.
Its chairperson Vigor Mendoza said, this memorandum will cover the period of December 17, 2025 to January 4, 2026 only, or the peak of Christmas season.
“We heard the complaints and we also feel the sentiments raised by those in the TNVS sector that is why we immediately acted on this in response to the instruction of President Marcos and Secretary Lopez to come up with the guideline on the computation of TNVS fares,” said Mendoza.
The board’s chairperson noted that the issuance of Memorandum Circular (MC) 2025-056 is intended to come up with the “win-win solution” to address both the concerns of the commuters and the TNVS drivers.
Through the directive, the LTFRB has set parameters on how the “surge price” should be computed and stated that the surge pricing must not exceed the B+C TNVS Fare Matrix—B refers to the per kilometer per rate, while C means the per minute charge of the TNVS.
Currently, the hatchback and sub-compact has a PHP35 flagdown rate, PHP45 for sedan, PHP55 for AUVs, and PHP145 for Premium.
The per kilometer rate for hatchback and sub-compact is PHP13, PHP15 for sedan, PHP18 for AUVs, and Premium for PHP36 per kilometer charge. All of these vehicle types have PHP2 per minute travel time except for premium, which has PHP4.
In the new memo, the LTFRB set a sample computation in order to clear things up with both the passengers and TNVS.
For instance, a car/sedan TNVS took a five-kilometer-long journey and the travel time is 10 minutes, passenger should pay PHP75 for the per kilometer rate and PHP20 for 10-minute travel time—for a total of P95, plus the flag down rate of P45.
Hence, the LTFRB said the price surging must not exceed P95 for car/sedan TNVS since the basic computation in the MC 2025-056 should not exceed the B (per kilometer rate) +C (per minute travel time) in the TNVS Fare Matrix.
In order to maximize the earnings of the TNVS drivers, however, the LTFRB memo specifically stated that the Transport Network Companies (TNC) must not charge a share for the surge price.
“The TNCs shall not collect any share, commission, or impose a service fee derived from the surge price component of the TNVS fare during the implementation of this Memorandum Circular,” it read.
In the same memo, the LTFRB directed both the TNVS and the TNCs to reconfigure their fare-computation algorithms on or before December 17, 2025.
The “surge pricing” was intended as a mechanism to balance supply and demand by encouraging more TNVS drivers to go online when and where demand is high, thereby improving service availability.
But there has been a lack of specific parameters on how the surge pricing fares should be computed for TNVS. In the LTFRB MC 2019-036, which set the fare matrix for TNVS, it was only stated that the surge price must not be more than twice the base fare.
Mendoza added that the LTFRB will continue to study the surge pricing, including the rules, regulations and jurisprudence relating to the fare matrix for Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS).