THE City Council during Monday’s regular session has agreed to ask the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) including the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to suspend and review the recent fare increase for taxi cabs in the City of Baguio.

The council will consolidate all proposed measures prepared by its members with regards to the said issue.

The legislative body had observed that since the implementation of the increase last March, commuters have aired their complaints in various media and online platforms.

Likewise, the council stated that the fare hike was decided upon without due notice to the City Government and affected stakeholders, thus preventing them from being duly heard and their public welfare was not duly considered. It was also manifested that the fare increase which ranged from an average of 50 percent to 75 percent more than the usual fare is a bit excessive.

With this, the council is bent on asking the concerned agencies to grant the suspension which they are requesting, to consider holding public consultations in the city so as to determine the appropriate price increase warranted under the present socio-economic circumstances and in consideration of what is most affordable rate that can be absorbed by the taxi riding constituents of the city.

They further specified that there is a need for all affected sectors to find an acceptable compromise on the matter.