CEBU, Philippines – Effective today, the minimum fare for jeepneys in Central Visayas is P6.50.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) approved last week a rollback of 50 centavos of the minimum fare.
The order, although welcomed by the commuters, as expected, was opposed to by the transport groups.
LTFRB regional director Romulo Bernardes is appealing to the transport groups to reconsider their stand against the said fare reduction.
“I am appealing to the transport group to also consider the plight of the commuters,” Bernardes said.
Ryan Benjamin Yu, managing director of Cebu Integrated Transport Services Cooperative said that even if they are against any fare reduction of the moment, they will nevertheless abide with the LTFRB’s decision.
Bernardes said that even if the transport groups have expressed opposition on any fare rollback, majority of the citizens are clamoring for a fare cut.
Bernardes said that he even wanted a P1 fare rollback, but since around 10,000 jeepney units in Region VII are still using gasoline, which is more expensive than diesel, he settled instead for a .50 cents fare cut.
Yu said that they are opposed on any move to reduce fare as prices of diesel here is not the same as to the price of Metro Manila, where jeepney drivers have already reduced minimum fares by 50 centavos two weeks ago.
Citrasco is the biggest transport cooperative in Cebu with 1,000 units of jeepneys.
Students, the handicapped and senior citizens will continue to enjoy a 20 percent discount. Their minimum fare will only be P5.20, which could be rounded off to P5.
In a separate interview yesterday, lawyer Manuel Iway, the one who filed the petition last year to reduce jeepney fares to P6, said that he sticks to his plea.
Iway said the price of diesel per liter is now P28, which is P4 per liter lower when LTFRB granted a P6 jeepney fare last year wherein the price of diesel that time was P32 per liter.
“Then one thing more kanang P6.50 nga pletehan, mag away na sad ang mga pasahero ug drivers ana kay walay sensiyo,” Iway said.
It maybe recalled that jeepney’s minimum fare in Central Visayas reached to P8 in July last year amid the rising cost of fuel but it was reduced to P7.50 sometime in August last year when prices of fuel started to drop.
Furthermore, on December 15, 2008, LTRFB implemented a second round of provisional fare reduction of .50 cents for jeepneys making it P7 from P7.50.
students complaints
Cebu City Sangguniang Kabataan Federation head Rengelle Pelayo wants the authorities to receive complaints from students, who are not given discounts by jeepney drivers.
Pelayo, who sits as ex-officio member of the city council, in a resolution filed and approved in the recent session said that many drivers refuse to give students the discount in fares.
The councilor wants the City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) to accept complaints from students, who would not be accorded a fare discount.
The CITOM would then be the ones to forward to complaint to the LTFRB, the body that regulates public transportation.
Cebu City has a population of over a million students. — with Ferliza C. Contratista/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)