Taxi operators seek fare hike

Citing the unabated increases in gasoline prices, Metro Manila’s taxi operators are also seeking an increase in taxicab fares.

Leonora Naval, president of the Association of Taxi Operators in Metro Manila (ATOMM), said they will file anytime this week a petition before the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to allow taxi drivers to collect P10 over and above the total cab fare of a passenger for a single trip.

Naval said their group had already informed LTFRB Chairman Thompson Lantion about the petition. She was among the public transport group leaders invited by Lantion to discuss the measures the government can take to help the transport sector cope with rising fuel prices.

Naval said the last fare hike granted them by the LTFRB was in 2004, which increased the flagdown rate from P25 to P30, when unleaded gasoline cost P25 to P26 a liter.

“Now, unleaded gasoline costs about P50 per liter. It has doubled. And we are only asking for a P10 additional charge,” she said.