Transport groups now want P10 minimum jeepney fare
Barely two weeks after drivers of public utility jeepneys (PUJs) started charging a new fare rate to passengers, a transport group is again planning to file a petition with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) asking that the minimum fare be pegged at P10 up from the current P8.00 minimum fare.
Edgar Salarda, president of Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) Panay, in a Bombo Radyo interview said they will file the petition for a new fare hike after the completion of the distribution of fare matrices to operators and drivers of PUJs by the LTFRB.
Salarda said the P8.00 minimum fare rate (P6.40 for students and elderly) recently granted by the National Economic Development Authority is not enough to fill in the losses incurred by the drivers because of the continued increase in the price of petroleum products especially diesel and gasoline.
Salarda said the driver's earnings for a day's drive could not even pay for the rental of their unit.
Piston-Panay's plan to ask for a P10 minimum fare will complement with the move of the national transport organization Federation of Jeepney Drivers Association of the Philippines (Fejodap) which already asked the LTFRB to set a hearing on its petition seeking for a P10 minimum fare.
Fejodap president Zenaida Maranan said LTFRB should increase the minimum jeepney fare by P0.50 to offset increases in local pump prices. Oil prices have been adjusted 20 times since the start of the year.
She said transport groups have yet to decide on whether to hold a transport holiday to protest the unabated increase in fuel prices.
Oil companies slashed diesel prices by P1.50 per liter early Monday following an appeal from President Arroyo.
The price cut came after diesel pump prices went as high as P58.98 per liter Saturday after oil companies implemented the 20th and highest weekend price hike of P3.
But Maranan said the P1.50/liter cut in diesel prices would only provide temporary relief to jeepney drivers and operators in the country.
LTFRB regional director Porfirio Clavel, on his part, said they will welcome whatever petition that would be filed by the transport groups.
"Anyway we will still subject it (petition) to hearings and public consultations," Clavel said.