Buses, taxis also seek fare increase
After the government approved a provisional 50-centavo fare increase in jeepney fares, can higher bus and taxi fares be far behind?
Bus and taxi operators are seeking fare increases because of soaring prices of petroleum products, an official of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said on Wednesday.
The new minimum jeepney fare of P8.50 became effective on Wednesday, but drivers and operators in Negros Occidental province said the amount was not enough to offset the numerous fuel price increases.
Francisco Mendoza, LTFRB acting executive officer, said three bus operators and seven taxi groups had submitted petitions for fare adjustments to the board.
He said the petitioners outside of Metro Manila were the Southern Luzon Bus Operators (Solbo) and the Provincial Bus Operators Association of the Philippines (PBOAP).
Mendoza identified the other bus group seeking a fare hike as Inter-City Bus Operators Association (ICBOA), which operates in Metro Manila.
The petitioners for a taxi fare hike were the Philippine National Taxi Association, Metro Cebu Tax Operators Association, Taxi Operators in Metro Manila, Association of Taxi Operators of Panay, JMA Transport, R & E Transport and EPE Transport.
Aircon, ordinary buses
Mendoza said the bus operators were seeking fare increases for aircon and ordinary buses.
He said Solbo was asking the LTFRB to raise the minimum fare for ordinary buses to P11.50 from P8.50 for the first 5 kilometers and for aircon buses to P60 from P40 for the first 26 km.
PBOAP wanted a minimum fare of P12, up from P8.50, for ordinary buses for the first 5 km and P50, up from P40, for aircon buses for the first 26 km.
The Metro Manila bus operators were seeking a P4 increase from P10 to P14 for ordinary buses and a P5 increase from P12 to P17 for aircon buses for the first 5 km.
Airport taxi
Two categories of taxi operators—those who own units stationed at the airport and those who own roving units—have different fare hike petitions, according to Mendoza.
Airport taxi operators were asking for a P30 increase from P70 to P100 for the first 500 meters and a P3 increase from P4 to P7 for every succeeding 300 meters.
Roving taxis were seeking a P10-increase in the flag down rate to P50 and a P1-increase to P4.50 for every 300 meters.
Mendoza said the Department of Transportation and Communications saw the fare increase as a temporary solution to the continuing increases in fuel prices.
He said Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II was pushing a program to promote e-vehicles and to convert vehicles so they could use liquefied petroleum gas.
‘Not enough’
In Bacolod City, the labor, business and transport sectors were not happy with the 50-centavo provisional fare hike for jeepneys.
“It is not enough. It will not cover the drivers’ loss of income,” said Jessie Ortega, secretary general of the United Negros Drivers Operators Center.
Instead of a fare hike, he said the Oil Deregulation Law should be reviewed and the expanded value-added tax (VAT) on petroleum products removed.
A 50-percent cut in VAT can ease the problems of drivers and operators but President Benigno Aquino III chose to ignore their plight, Ortega said.
Frank Carbon, president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the fare increase on top of rising fuel prices would further push up the prices of basic commodities.
Like Ortega, Carbon called for a review of the Oil Deregulation Law to reduce the burden on the people.
Wage increase
Labor leader Wennie Sancho maintained that the fare increase would bolster the call for a wage increase.
But Carbon said the fare increase would also drive up the prices of commodities, which, in turn, would erode whatever gain the workers get from any wage adjustment.
He added that a huge number of workers in the informal sector not covered by wage increases would suffer the most.
