No to P12 minimum fare – LTFRB

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said Monday that raising the minimum jeepney fare to P12 was not possible.

LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada told INQUIRER.net that increasing the jeepney fare would result in a domino effect on other transportation prices.

“Sinabihan namin sila na yang P12, hindi talaga pwede,” Lizada said in a phone interview.

(We told them that the P12 cannot be allowed.)

“Hindi pa yan modernized na jeep, ‘di ba? This is just the regular jeepney. Try to imagine magkano na ang modernized jeepney kapag lalabas na tayo,” she added.

(That’s not yet for the modernized jeep. This is just the regular jeepney. Try to imagine how much it would cost if it’s already for the modernized jeepney.)

According to Lizada, the fare for the transportation of goods would also be affected if the one for jeepneys is increased.

She said she recently met with the Department of Trade and Industry, National Economic and Development Authority, and Department of Energy to discuss the thread on fuel prices in line with the petition of transport groups.

“We consulted them kasi gusto naming malaman kung ano ba talaga itong thread ng fuel, hanggang kelan ba ito,” Lizada said.

“Itong proposal nila na if they want to have an increase na ganito, anong epekto niyan sa inflation? We need to know the social impact of that also as we come up with the decision,” she added.

Despite this, she noted that the agencies were looking for a “balance” to address the concern of jeepney drivers on the continuous increase of fuel prices.

“We are thinking out of the box on how to them aside sa mga discount ng mga fuel companies. We are doing our best,” she said.

The LTFRB recently approved a provisional fare hike of P1 effective July 6, raising the minimum fare for jeepneys to P9. /cbb

READ: P9 jeepney minimum fare starts July 6