Commuters slam P40 flagdown rate, proposed fare surge: Traffic not our fault

Taxi cabs continuous to arrive and pick up passengers visited the newly open SM City Seaside at the South Road Properties (SRP) (CDN FILE PHOTO)

Citing some dishonest taxi drivers and that the traffic is not the their fault, some commuters showed their displeasure at the implementation of the P40 flagdown rate for taxis and the proposed fare surge of passenger jeepneys.

Carlos Malapitan, 26, a team leader in a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company, said that some drivers do not deserve the rate because others do not even give the exact change to passengers.

“I was disappointed with some drivers because of a personal experience. Some were not honest,” Malapitan said.

He recalled an incident after arriving from Bacolod City and he took a cab at the North Bus Terminal in Mandaue City to his home in Barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City.

“The driver asked me if how much fare I usually pay going home. Then I told him I usually pay P170 to P190, but he insisted that it was P200 plus,” Malapitan told Cebu Daily News.

He said when they almost reach his home, the driver told him that he was not able to turn on the meter because he did not know how to operate it.

The driver even asked him for an additional P40 on top of his P200 plus taxi fare.

Ryan Christopher Booc, a 24-year old account specialist, also disagreed with the P40 flagdown rate.

“I strongly disagree with their proposal for fare surge (jeepneys) and (P40_ flagdown rate. Simply for two reasons, it’s way too high for the commuters, and the flow of the traffic has not been addressed at all,” Booc told Cebu Daily News.

He travels from Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City to IT Park in Cebu City and pays P80 for the taxi fare for regular hours, but during traffic hours he pays P120 and more.

Booc said that he would only agree with the new flagdown rate if the traffic problems in Cebu would be solved.

“The more it’s traffic, the higher you pay for the taxi fare. Sometimes it is better to take van for hire (V-hire) or ‘habal-habal’,” he said.

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Martin Delgra signed last Friday that the implementation of the P40 flag-down rate would start today.

Rate for succeeding meters would remain at P3.50 every 300 meters and also P3.50 for every two minutes of waiting time.

The taxi flagdown was temporarily reduced to P30 during the time when there was a series fuel of cutbacks a while back, but with the price of fuel going up again, the LTFRB granted the taxi operators’ request to revert to the P40 flagdown rate.

Meanwhile, other commuters also showed their opposition to the with transport operators who filed fare surge for jeepneys.

Cherilyn Villacarlos, an online teacher, said she found the proposed fare surge unfair especially for students and senior citizens.

“I pity the students who will be much more affected with this. The rate is too much for them,” Villacarlos told Cebu Daily News.

Arra Patricia Verdejo, another commuter, also said that it is also unfair for her part because she usually goes out from work during peak hours.

“It is not the fault of the commuters why it is traffic. So why do we pay for the fault that we have not caused?” Verdejo who works as English as Second Language (ESL) instructor told CDN.

She usually takes two jeepney rides, a 12L jeepney (Ayala Center Cebu to Barangay Labangon) and 44E jeepney (Barangay Labangon to Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City).

But Alexis Rosal, a Customer Solutions Officer, said she partly agreed and disagreed with the fare surge.

“I somewhat agree with fare surge because I pity the drivers because they need to pay rent. But partly, I disagree because of course it affects one’s budget,” Rosal said.

Two transport groups in Cebu filed a proposal for a fare surge at LTFRB-7 last Friday afternoon.

The Cebu Integrated Transport Service Mulltipurpose Cooperative (Citrasco) represented by its president Ryan Benjamin Yu asked for a P1.50 fare surge during peak hours.

While Basak Lapu-Lapu City Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association (Balacjoda) under National Confideration of Transportworkers Union (NCTU) in Visayas also filed two separate petitions yesterday afternoon.

These petitions include P1.50 minimum fare increase and another P1.50 fare surge similar to the Citrasco proposal.

Their reasons for filing fare hike include heavy traffic, fuel increase and basic commodities.