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Thursday, May 20, 2004
Jeep, bus fares up by P1.50, P2
By Allan I. Varquez and Elias O. Baquero
CEBU -- Jeepney fares will go up by P1.50 in time for school opening this year.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) approved Wednesday the P1.50 increase that some drivers’ groups have been lobbying for since November 2002.
The increase will take effect on June 9, or 15 days after publication of the LTFRB order that sets P5.50 as the minimum jeepney fare, said Maria Elena Bautista, LTFRB chairperson, in a mobile phone interview Wednesday night.
LTFRB also increased non-airconditioned bus fares by P2, which means the new minimum rate is now P6, while the lowest charge for airconditioned buses is now P11.
But the 6,000-strong Nagkahiusang Driver sa Sugbo (Nadsu) called the adjustment unjust (“dili makiangayon”) and said it is not enough to equal the P10 accumulated increase in oil prices since the year 2000.
Nadsu president Tony Pogado said the P1.50 hike would have been enough had it been adopted in 2002.
“We feel bad for the passengers who will have to bear this increase, but for the drivers, this will not be enough. Based on the increase in fuel prices, the minimum fare should go up by P3 or more,” Pogado added.
He will be calling a meeting to find out if members want to file a new petition for a fare increase.
Earlier in the day, a group of truckers in Cebu stopped delivering goods in order to press for a P600 increase in their fees for each trip.
If this increase comes to pass, the adjustment might end up getting passed on to consumers as well.
The draft resolution mandating the jeepney and bus fare increases will be presented for signing by the LTFRB board in Manila on Monday.
The LTFRB 7 office in Cebu has yet to receive a copy of the resolution.
Benito Dy-Cesar, LTFRB regional director, said an increase in fares cannot be collected by drivers until he receives a copy of the resolution and their head office in Manila gives the go-signal to enforce the new rates.
Yet commuters from Tabunok in Talisay and Labangon in Cebu City have complained that a 50-centavo increase has been collected from them for two weeks now.
Under the new rates, the fare for non-airconditioned buses will be P6 for the first five kilometers and P1.10 for every succeeding kilometer.
For jeepneys, the new rate will be P5.50 for the first four kilometers and P1 for every succeeding kilometer.
LTFRB’s Bautista said the P1.50 is “the only rate” they have deemed fair to both drivers and commuters.
“For three and a half years now, the total increase in prices of oil products is P5, plus higher boundary rates charged by operators. Kawawa ang mga driver kung hindi natin itataas ang pasahe (The drivers will suffer more if we don’t increase fare rates),” Bautista said.
LTFRB, however, reminded drivers and operators to extend a 20 percent discount for students, senior citizens and the handicapped. Children three years and younger are still entitled to free rides.
Bautista said Malacañang has nothing to do with the decision to increase fare rates now, just a week after the elections, adding that the cost of oil has increased in the world market.
Once the new fare rates are implemented, she said, an agreement between the Department of Energy and oil companies to grant discounts on diesel prices to jeepney operators will be revoked.
Jeepney and bus drivers aren’t the only ones itching for an increase.
Earlier Wednesday, the Cebu Truckers Association Inc. (CTAI) declared a “trucking holiday” to protest the refusal of domestic shipping companies to act on their petition for higher rates.
As a result, there was no movement of containerized cargoes from shipping lines with Cebu-Manila-Cebu routes, such as Sulpicio Lines, Aboitiz Transport Corp. and National Marine Corp.
CTAI president Antonio S. Yap said the “trucking holiday” only applies to local shipping because they are still forwarding imported cargoes with higher rates.
Yap said the present trucking rate of P1,210 per trip was imposed in 1996 yet, when the foreign exchange rate was still P26 to a dollar and crude oil cost only P6.50 per liter.
“We want an increase in the trucking rate to P1,820 per trip because the crude oil is now P20 per liter and the exchange rate to a dollar is now P56,” Yap said.
The proposal was submitted by trucking operators last month but shipping firms are apparently ignoring it, prompting them to decide on a trucking holiday, Yap said.
Sun.Star failed to contact any official or representative of any domestic shipping firm as of press time.
Yap said CTAI has 31 members, but more than 40 truckers joined the protest.
While they are open to a dialogue with domestic shipping companies, they will not resume their trucking activities without the rate increase, he added.
The truckers will not stop shipping firms or consignees if they want to use their own vehicles in transporting perishable goods.
While LTFRB issues franchises to operators of trucks for hire, it has no power to fix the trucking rates.
Yap said the trucking rate is to be agreed on between the truckers and the shipping firms or cargo owners.
He warned that if the trucking holiday will drag on, container yards will be jammed and departure schedules of vessels will be disrupted. |
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