MANILA, Philippines—Taxi operators in the country decried Friday the reduced flag-down rate imposed by the Land Transportation and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on taxis nationwide, saying it was “unreasonable.”
Philippine National Taxi Operators Association (PNTOA) president Bong Suntay said the P30 flag-down rate was the same rate in 2004.
“The flag-down rate is unreasonable. This is the flag-down rate in 2004. That was 11 years ago. So binaba nila ‘yung flag-down rate to the level ng flag-down 11 years ago (They reduced the flag-down to what was used 11 years ago),” Suntay said.
He said PNTOA will file a motion for reconsideration before the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) against the provisional rollback on flag-down rate for taxis nationwide.
“’Pag di kami pinakinggan ng LTFRB (if the LTFRB doesn’t hear us out), then we’ll try to get an injunction from the court,” he said.
He said taxi drivers were saddened by the news since the P10 reduction would translate to a loss of P350 day on the daily earnings of taxi drivers.
He cited that the traffic condition especially in Metro Manila has worsened.
Though there have been oil price reductions in recent weeks, he said these have been neutralized by the worsening traffic in the country.
He added that oil prices are also unstable and could increase anytime.
“We also have to take into consideration the inflation rate, cost of living and the cost of spare parts and other taxi conditions,” he said.
“Of course, with this provisional decrease na P10, parang maliit lang ‘yung P10 pero ‘pag minultiply mo, if you multiply it with the number of pickups that a taxi driver makes in a day, which is between 30 to 35, that’s about P350 a day na nawala sa kanila (With the provisional decrease, P10 may seem small, but if you multiply it to the number of pickups a day which is about 30 to 35, it will amount to P350),” he said.
The LTFRB on Friday announced a P10-rollback in the flag-down rate for taxis nationwide starting March 9.
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