I’ve been taking a cab lately to move around the suburb since my wife is using the only family car we have for a contractual engagement as a skills teacher for a school in a nearby city in the south, and while on board the taxi I usually strike a conversation with the driver.
The first question that I routinely ask is about their opinion on the impending fare increase that has already been approved but yet still to be implemented by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
The result of my informal survey is appalling because all of them are not in favor of the implementation of the new fare scheme.
They believe that it will only turn away passengers specifically due to the waiting time scheme in which passengers are made to pay P2 for every minute they spend in the cab on top of the flag down and per kilometer rate.
I was not expecting these drivers to oppose the new scheme because at face value, it could directly be the solution to the financial predicaments that most public utility drivers are facing.
The new formula includes the flag down rate of P40, distance rate is now P13.50 per kilometer and the running time pegged at P2 per minute.
The old formula used the flag down rate at P40, the distance traveled at P3.50 per 300 meters and the waiting time in case the vehicle stopped during traffic at P3.50 per two minutes.
Julius Diago, a former account agent for a gas company who now drives a taxi after his company was sold to another owner said he finds the new scheme disadvantageous to the drivers because of the more efficient alternative, Grab and Uber.
He said that for almost everyone, not only the millennials, it is easier to book Grab or Uber through their mobile phones.
Since the vehicles used by their counterpart is newer, the taxis would definitely be left out especially with the new fare scheme because there really are taxi units that are not well maintained.
Another taxi driver shared with me that the fare increase would be barely felt by the drivers because it has been his experience in the past that whenever there is a fare hike, their operators will also increase the rent for their units.
He opined that if the new fare scheme would be implemented, he feared that it will ultimately kill the taxi industry in favor of the more efficient Grab and Uber.
The last thing I heard about the impending taxi fare hike is that drivers can start collecting the new fare scheme after they comply with the recalibration and resealing of their meters but it has already been more than a month now since the new scheme was approved and no recalibration is reported in the media.
I also did not hear any noise coming from the transport group who are supposed to benefit from the increase. Could this be a validation of the sentiments of the taxi drivers I rode with lately?
I hope that the delay in the implementation of the new taxi fare scheme is LTFRB’s way of admitting that there are things that they failed to consider in crafting the order.
I could not help but ask if the LTFRB decision on the new fare scheme was a result of careful study and research because it is unacceptable when the parties that are supposed to benefit are those that abhor its implementation.