No more fare hike for PUJs

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairwoman Ma. Elena Bautista said jeepney groups will have a hard time asking for another fare hike after the P1.50 and P2 fare rate increase granted to them last May.

Bautista said that jeepney groups in other regions of the country had even written the LTFRB in the past days expressing their desire for a reduction of the increase from P1.50 to P1 only.

To address these requests, Bautista said that the LTFRB has authorized their regional directors to decide on the cases.

"We have given our regional offices the power to hear petitions for the reduction of increase of fare," Bautista said.

It will be recalled that jeepney groups led by the Philippine Confederation of Drivers Organization-Alliance of Concerned Transport Operators (PCDO-ACTO) had continuously asked for a fare increase each time there was an increase in oil prices.

The most recent PCDO-ACTO threat was aired when the group, led by its national president Efren de Luna, expressed its desire that a P2 diesel discount given them at gas stations while the LTFRB heard its petition for the P1.50 fare increase filed last February to continue even after the P1.50 fare increase was granted them.

"They will have a hard time justifying a petition for another fare increase since the P1.50 fare increase recently given them has even been regarded by jeepney drivers in other regions as too high," Bautista said in a huddle with reporters after she sat as panelist at a forum of the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) at the La Dolce Fontana restaurant in Greenhills, San Juan last Thursday.