GT Express or the V-Hires will impose a P10-P20 fare hike for their Balamban, Asturias and Tuburan routes starting Monday as a result of the series of increases on the price of fuel. / CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO
TWICE or thrice a month, Leonora Pintado, would visit her siblings in Tuburan town and attend the regular family session of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), her family being a Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiary.
Pintado works as a house helper in Lapu-Lapu City for about three years already.
“I would go home and buy some groceries for my children,” Pintado said in Cebuano. During these trips, she would always ride a GT Express (V-Hire) from Ayala bound for Tuburan and pay P140 fare.
But with the series of increases on the price of petroleum products this year, the Association of Asturias, Balamban and Tuburan (AABAT) announced that they would be implementing fare hike starting on Monday, May 28, for GT Express operating from Ayala to Asturias, Balamban and Tuburan.
From P140, Pintado will now have to add P20 to the old rate and pay P160 for V-Hire from Ayala to Tuburan.
“It’s an added burden for us commuters, but we understand them because the price of gasoline now has continued to increase,” she added.
Aside from this, GT Express plying the Ayala to Asturias and Sta. Lucia routes will also increase their fares by P10, or from P120 to P130 and P130 to P140 for V-Hires going to Bago, Asturias from the Ayala terminal.
Engr. Joel Cabase, chairman of AABAT, said they have consulted the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB-7) about their intention.
“Our drivers are now only earning P400 a day as their take home pay. Aside from this, we are also paying P120 as terminal fee at the Ayala Terminal and P40 for the barkers per trip,” Cabase said.
He said that in the past, they only consumed around P800 in fuel per trip, but now, it has gone up to P1,100.
Cabase said the fare hike was based on the P2 per kilometer (km) distance rate, allowed by the LTFRB.
During his visit to the LTFRB office last Monday Cabase found out that they were undercharging.
LTFRB-7 Regional director Ahmed Cuizon also said that since they were undercharging, AABAT can adjust their fares even without filing a fare hike petition or asking the agency for a permit.
“They are still within the legal range, if we compute at P2 per kilometer,” Cuizon said.