PUJ fare rates to revert to P7.50 amid rollback

With fuel prices dropping below P45 per liter last Sunday, passenger jeepneys in Cebu and the rest of the Visayas will charge P.50 less for fare starting today.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) said passenger jeepneys will charge anew P7.50 after their central office recalled the P.50 provisional fare increase granted last March.

The LTFRB-7 board also dismissed with finality the petition for a P1.50 jeepney fare increase filed by the Cebu Integrated Transport Services Cooperative (CITRASCO) which would have raised the fare to P9.

In Luzon, minimum jeepney fares were returned to P8 per passenger.

The LTFRB also denied the consolidated petition of transport groups there for a permanent P2 increase in jeepney fares or P10 per passenger.

LTFRB Board Member Manuel Iway, who cited the drop in fuel prices, said the provisional fare increase was granted on the premise that it can be recalled if diesel prices fell below P45 per liter.

He said the fuel price drop served as basis for the LTFRB-7 to dismiss the petition filed by CITRASCO.

Iway said the fare rates may go up by P.50 anew if the fuel prices rise to P48 per liter.

“The big-time rollback in prices of diesel was implemented by some oil companies, which now brings the prices of diesel below P45 per liter, and is likely to continue in the weeks to come,” the LTFRB said in its decision.

The board said the transport groups in Luzon agreed to withdraw their P2 fare rate petition once the fuel prices go down the P45 level.

But CITRASCO chided the LTFRB-7 for dismissing their P1.50 fare rate petition.

CITRASCO chairman Ryan Benjamin Yu said the local LTFRB should also consider the high prices of tires and spare parts in evaluating their P1.50 fare rate increase.

“Kung mikunhod ang usa, unya taas gihapon ang ubang aspeto sa atong operasyon, dili gyud na makiangayon (If something goes down, but the other aspects remain high, then it isn’t fair),” he said.

Yu said the LTFRB should have asked the Department of Trade and Industry on the high prices of spare parts and tires.

He also questioned the LTFRB’s claim that fuel prices will continue to go down.

Yu said the LTFRB takes a long time to decide on a fare rate increase petition while operators will have to spend time and money to attend public hearings for this purpose.

Yu also said the LTFRB should give the operators five days to implement the fare rate reduction.

At the start of the week, oil companies rolled back diesel and gasoline prices by P1.50 per liter and P1.65 per liter, respectively.  Jhunnex Napallacan, Correspondent with an inquirer report