Mindanaotoday.com | LTFRB to enforce new fare increase effective Oct. 3
By: Bobby Lagsa
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LFTRB) in Northern Mindanao has announced that there will be an increase in minimum fare for public utility vehicles starting October 3, 2022.
Aminoden Guro, LTFRB-10 regional director on Thursday, September 22, 2022, said that the new fare rate is divided into three categories for jeepney, modern transport, and taxis.
In the region, the minimum jeepney fare will be P12.00 for the first 4 kilometers with P1.80 per kilometer thereafter. The previous minimum fare was P11.00 and 1.50 respectively.
For modern transport, the new minimum fare is P14.00 for the first 4 kilometers and P2.20 per kilometer thereafter. The new minimum fare is up by P1.00, and the succeeding kilometer is up by 40 sentimos.
For taxis, the new flag down rate is P45.00 up by P5 from the previous rate while its per minute rate is still 2 pesos.
Guro said that the new increase is the result of the supposedly 5.00 that transport groups asked for a minimum fare increase.
“Way back on July 1, 2022, there was approval from LTFRB for a P2 fare increase. Effective October 3, 2022, there will be a P1 increase. From P11, it is now P12 for traditional jeepneys. For modern transport, from P13, it is now P14,” Guro said.
He added that the average fare increase that transport groups asked for was P5.
“But there are transport groups that even asked for 10 pesos increase for minimum fare,” Guro said.
“For taxi groups, they asked for a 10 pesos increase for flag down rate but across the country, the approved increase is 5 pesos. So for Cagayan de Oro, from 40 pesos flagdown rate, it is now 45 pesos,” the regional director added.
Guro said that the fare adjustment may be wanting, but the government also needs to balance the welfare of the general public, and suggested that drivers may have to extend their driving time if they need to earn more.
“If a driver wants to earn more, he may need to work more, and look for more passengers,” he said.
“The issuance of the resolution was studied well by our office, members of the technical working group from the National Economic Development Authority, and the Department of Energy on how to balance that our drivers and operators will earn more than our daily minimum wage vis-à-vis our passengers’ welfare and not to burden them,” Guro added.
For a long-time, GOFETCO taxi driver Danny Liwagon, he lined up at the LTFRB-10 office to get a copy of the new fare rate.
“We know that there is a new flag-down rate increase but we still don’t have a copy of the fare matrix and it’s still 2 weeks away,” Liwagon said.
He added that he lined up early at the LTFRB office to avoid the long line of taxi drivers expected to flock to the office.
Guro said that the P5 increase will be automatically added to the fare.
“No fare matrix displayed inside the taxi, no fare increase,” Guro said.
Joel Gabatan, Northern Mindanao coordinator for the National Confederation of Transport Union (NCTU), said that they indeed asked for a P5 increase in the minimum fare but said that there is a very slim chance that the government will grant it.
“Our drivers have been on the receiving end of low income, because when the previous fare increased from P9 to P11, passengers are paying a flat fare of 10 pesos, for reasons that we already considered – P11 is an odd number, it is easier to pay P10,” Gabatan said.
“Now we are expecting that passengers will pay the minimum fare of P12. They should be ashamed if they will not pay the minimum fare. Our drivers are happy for the P1 increase,” he added.
He said that for a very long time, the drivers’ unions never asked for fare increases, especially during the Covid-19 and the spiraling increase in fuel cost.
“When the fuel cost increases, we never asked for a fare increase to protect our commuting public. Instead, we asked the government for additional services like service contracting, and subsidies and support for drivers and operators,” Gabatan said.
“When the government raised the minimum salary for workers this year, which is divided into two tranches, it is already time that we also asked for a fare increase,” he added. (MT)
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