Cebu City to partner with Uber, Grab to track gov’t employees, save on gov’t vehicles

To prevent the misuse of government-issued vehicles , the local government of Cebu City will be partnering with TNVS (Transport Network Vehicle Services) to track the whereabouts of government vehicles and personnel.

On his official Facebook page, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced that the city government was planning to use Uber’s system to encourage government employees to take, as an alternative, Uber or Grab rides during work, instead of their government-issued vehicles, so the government can monitor and track their movement, as well as make sure they are "actually doing their jobs."

"The days of government employees abusing taxpayer-owned vehicles are finally Uber," Osmeña said.

"What this does is allow our personnel who need to go around the city (tax-mappers and sanitation inspectors for example) to not have to wait for a red-plate to become available. Instead, they can use the app to summon a vehicle just like any other person," Osmeña wrote.

"Also, the use of the app will allow us to track their movements to make sure they’re actually doing their jobs," he added.

During the course of a "trial period," Osmeña said Cebu's government employees will also be required to take Grab rides at a discounted rate, instead of buying more vehicles and hiring more personnel to drive their government-issued vehicles.

"Under this program, there will be no more overpriced vehicles with 'missing' spare parts," he said.

Osmeña said the "experiment" is expected to save the local government "a lot of money."

"No more ‘sick’ drivers being paid to do nothing. No more fuel stolen from gas tanks. No more red-plate vehicles used to bring employees’ families to the beach or mall," the mayor wrote.

With Uber and Grab being available to the public, Osmeña said prices charged to the government can be made "very transparent" while employees can be tracked wherever they go. "Overpricing is next to impossible," he said.

In a succeeding comment on his own post, the Mayor added that the government was also planning to use Uber's system to improve the city's garbage collection.

"Eventually, we plan to use Uber’s app to allow citizens to mark areas where garbage needs to be picked up," he wrote. — MDM, GMA News