Bus fares go down by 5 cents per extra km.

CEBU, Philippines - Bus passengers will see a minimal difference in fares starting today as operators agreed to reduce the add-on rate per kilometer by five centavos.

This means that from the current P1.25 additional per kilometer after the minimum fare of P9 for the first five kilometers, it will become P1.20.

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board regional director Romulo Bernardes said that this was agreed among the members of the Cebu Provincial Bus Operators Association, the Cebu United Mini-Bus operators and other small-time bus operators operating in the province.

Such agreement, Bernardes said is stipulated under the Memorandum of Commitment among the bus operators last September 16, which was witnessed by him and Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.

The MOC as agreed will take effect today as the Land Transportation Office will certainly arrest and penalize bus operators, who are charging below the rate that was agreed upon.

LTFRB has authorized, under the bus fare matrix, a P1.45 per kilometer rate but due to cut-throat competition among the bus operators, they opted to collect only P1.25 per kilometer for the past several years.

However, several complaints were raised before the LTFRB that many bus operators are even charging below P1.25 per kilometer rate.

To solve the problem, LTFRB came up with a win-win solution, thus bus fares were further reduced.

Bernardes added that although what the bus operators were doing is undercharging, LTFRB cannot impose a penalty since what the latter were doing are for the benefit of the riding public.

But this time, with the implementation of the MOC, bus operators who will collect below P1.20 per additional kilometer will be slapped a fine of P1,500. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)