Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Malig: P8 jeepney fare By Jun A. Malig Cognition
THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) have raised the minimum P7.50 jeepney fare to P8. The new "provisional" rate will take effect tomorrow (Wednesday).
The increase will be good only for the first four kilometers. There will be no fare rate increase for the succeeding kilometers under the LTFRB order.
Whatever the distance, public utility jeepney drivers plying the routes in Metro Manila and Central and Southern Luzon are authorized to only charge their passengers additional 50 centavos.
The LTFRB has not granted any rate increase for every succeeding kilometer.
Drivers are required to give 20 percent fare discount to senior citizens, students, and disabled persons. A copy of the notice for provisional fare increase must also be posted in all passenger jeepneys.
Take note of the vehicle plate numbers of drivers who violate the LTFRB directives and related laws. Operators and drivers without social conscience have no right to earn their income from the riding public. They should be penalized not just for refusing to abide by existing governmental policies but also for taking advantage of their very sources of income -- their passengers.
Of course, operators and drivers also deserve reprieve from the continuing increases in the prices of petroleum products, food and services. But they should not overcharge, verbally abuse, humiliate, or shortchange their passengers.
On top of the P1 per liter discount on diesel being given to drivers, the government is set to provide them additional P2 per liter fuel subsidy.
It was reported that the Pangkalahatang Sangguniang Manila and Suburbs Drivers Association Nationwide Incorporated (Pasang-Masda) is pushing for the approval of its pending petitions for P9 minimum fare and 50 centavos per succeeding kilometer.
The Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (Fejodap), the largest jeepney organization in the country, is asking for the same fare rate increase.
The Pinag-Isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) reportedly said the 50 centavos fare increase will not solve the problem of the transport sector. The group's secretary-general, George San Mateo, was quoted as saying that the drivers and the public would have gotten more relief if the government had heeded their plea to scrap the 12-percent expanded value-added tax (e-VAT) on oil and the Oil Deregulation Law, which they claimed allowed oil companies "to raise their prices with impunity".
He said scrapping e-VAT on petroleum products and the Oil Deregulation Law would have led to a rollback in prices of gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
By the way, Piston has a pending petition for a fare increase of P1 for the first four kilometers and P0.25 per succeeding kilometer.
