Thursday, October 16, 2008 Fare rollback may take place by December
THE Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said a fare rollback for commuters of public utility vehicles might take place before the yearend.
During the weekly forum at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan last Wednesday, LTFRB Executive Director Emmanuel Mahipos said the stakeholders and the transport sector have agreed, in principle, to a fare reduction.
“Consultations are still being undertaken, but the stakeholders are generally in agreement of a fare rollback. The transport groups are not opposed per se to the petition, what they are objecting to is the amount of the rollback,” Mahipos said.
He said the transport groups are opposed to the petition for a P1.50 rollback for public utility jeepneys and P2 for public utility buses as proposed by the commuters group National Council for Commuter Protection Incorporated (NCCPI).
The commuters group filed a petition for a reduction of jeepney fares following recent downtrend in world oil prices.
It noted that based on current pump prices, fares ought to go down by P2.50.
Transport groups Pasang-Masda and United Transport Alliance Koalisyon (1-Utak) have said they would only agree to lower their fare rate if the price of diesel would plummet to the P44-per-liter level.
Another transport group Piston said the price of diesel should first go down to P40 before they petition for a fare cut.
Oil players including Shell, Chevron Philippines, and Petron last week reduced the prices of their gasoline, diesel, and kerosene by P1 per liter.
In a related development, Mahipos said they have invited representatives from oil companies to the next hearing on the issue.
“We have invited them to the next hearing on November 4 as well as the Department of Energy to shed light on the issues raised by the transport sector and to solicit their opinion on the petition for a fare rollback,” said the LTFRB official. (AH/Sunnex)
