EDITORIAL – Fare thee well

To be sure, there is a mechanism to deal with how to raise transport fares whenever the need arises. The problem is, as recent events would show, that mechanism is not primed to deal with rapidly changing situations. It is not timed to correspondingly respond just as quickly.

For the past several months, world oil prices have been steadily climbing, triggering a series of corresponding upward adjustments in fuel prices. To say that the transportation sector has gone haywire as a result is a gross understatement.

Fares clearly needed adjustment, not just once or twice but, alas, probably as many times as necessary to cope with the ever changing cost of fuel. Unfortunately, as even those in the transport sector would probably agree, it is not the practical thing to do.

There would be chaos if fares are allowed to match every movement in fuel cost. So a way must be found to prompt fare adjustments without necessarily matching step for step the cost of fuel but still makes it equitable for the transport sector to survive and continue serving.

That way is still not with us. What is in place is a tedious process that requires the submission of a formal application, the conduct of public hearings on such application, final deliberation, and then deciding on an appropriate rate of increase in fares.

By the time anything emerges from such a laborious process, it shall have been overtaken by events and a new process is again necessary to be undertaken. Clearly this mechanism does not work in today's volatile energy situation.

Thus the government the other day embarked on an unprecedented move that “cut corners” in order to swiftly address a rapidly deteriorating situation. For all intents and purposes “bypassing” the LTFRB, the NEDA approved a new round of fare increases.

The move may have addressed a situation swiftly, but it was nevertheless a political one and could not have been practical at any time. The result was chaotic, as those who took matters into their own hands did not realize fares were not uniform throughout the land.

The new fares are supposed to take effect this week. We'll see. Let’s just hope that something as seriously taken by everybody as fares will not spark confusion and arguments that can lead to violence, as often happens when the clueless manages the unwieldy.