Lower cab rates mean more trips in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Tourists have been taking more cab rides here since Holy Week, taking advantage of the old flagdown rate of P25.

Baguio was not covered by a directive raising taxi fare to a flagdown of P40 as city operators opted to file a separate fare hike petition.

The petition has yet to be acted upon following a protest by a cab operator against a temporary P15 fare increase.

Drivers, who doubled their work hours to earn, have been enjoying the increased patronage.

“We needed a break badly,” said Glenn Salonga, who drives his own cab.

Terry, 23, a first-time Baguio visitor from Metro Manila, said she and her friends rented a cab to go around the city after realizing that their money was enough to cover the three-hour fare.

Henry, a cab driver, said he took a group of vacationing college students from Pampanga to see Baguio’s old houses and his passengers did not mind handing him P100 as tip.

Another driver said girl scouts he ferried to Camp John Hay added P15 to their cab fare “because they were advised by their scout leaders about the plight of Baguio cab drivers.”

But Emmanuel Carantes, leader of the Samahan ng mga Taxi Drivers sa Cordillera Administrative Region, said he cautioned his members against accepting this situation.

He said what remains at stake for the city’s cab drivers is the high cost of fuel, which has reduced their daily earnings to about P200 a day.

There are about 400 licensed taxi cabs servicing Baguio and the same number of unlicensed cabs roaming the streets at night, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) officials said.

Only about 20 percent of cab drivers own their vehicles, indicating that most earn only a percentage of their gross collections daily.

“These tourists come to Baguio prepared to spend. They come from areas where their taxi cabs charge them P40 flagdown so they would have been used to the same rate had DOTC allowed the Baguio cab drivers to enforce it here,” Carantes said. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon