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Saturday, April 29, 2006
Guv, bus owners agree to hold off increase in fare
Bus operators agreed yesterday not to increase the fare rate until the pump price of diesel fuel reaches P36 per liter.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia met with officials of Cebu South Mini Bus Operators Association (CSMBOA) and the Cebu Provincial Bus Operators Association (CPBOA). Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 Director Rogelio “Jing-jing” Osmeña presided over the meeting at the governor’s office.
CSMBOA was not inclined to an increase, while CPBOA seeks a revision of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) on fare rate it signed with the Capitol in November last year.
The meeting adopted the suggestion of lawyer Manuel Iway, a former LTFRB 7 director who now represents a consumers’ group, that a new rate of P6 for the first five kilometers and P1 for the succeeding kilometer will not be objectionable to the group if the pump price of diesel is P36 per liter.
Garcia will call an emergency meeting with the operators to revise the MOA.
Iway said fuel prices in the world market remain unstable, and there is a possibility that the current P35.41 per liter pump price of gasoline will go up anytime this week or next week
“Dili mi mosupak ana. Usa nalang ka increase sa presyo sa gasoline sugot nami sa bag-o ninyong rate (We won’t object to that. One more increase in the price of gasoline, and we’ll agree to your new rate,” he said during the meeting.
The current bus fare, as agreed in a MOA between bus operators and Garcia last year, is P5.50 for the first five kilometers and P0.85 for every subsequent kilometer. The rate, however, was lower than what the LTFRB had prescribed, which is P8.50 and P1.30 per subsequent kilometer.
CSMBOA president Jolieto Flores and his vice president Filimon Villadar said they are demanding an increase, but if the Provincial Government comes up with a new rate they will adopt it.They said they don’t care so much about an increase in fare because competition in business even forced them to collect lower fare of P30 for the Cebu-Carcar route, instead of the P35 stipulated in the MOA.
Nick Villahermosa, CPBOA president, assured Garcia that his group would abide with whatever they have agreed in the meeting. (AIV)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 29, 2006 issue)
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