Cebu’s biggest transport group has filed a petition to increase the jeepney fare in Central Visayas by P2.50.
The Cebu Integrated Transport Service Cooperative, Incorporated (Citrasco) filed its petition with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 last Monday.
If the petition is approved, minimum fare for a five-kilometer jeepney ride in the region will be P10 instead of the current P7.50.
Ryan Yu, managing director of Citrasco, said they filed the petition because prices of spare parts have increased.
Yu said they support the move of the LTFRB and the Land Transportation Office to phase out dilapidated jeepneys on the streets.
To keep their units in top condition, Yu said they have to raise rental rates because prices of tires, batteries and other parts have increased. For drivers to cope with higher unit rentals and earn, fares must be increased, he added.
A manager of a spare parts store in Mandaue City, RJ Mercader, said that since 2011 when the P7.50-minimum fare was implemented, prices of spare parts have increased by at least 15 percent.
He said a tire which cost P3,000 three years ago is now priced at P5,000 for the cheapest ones.
Porferio Cantarnosa has been driving PUJs for a living these past 20 years and he said tires have to be changed every two months.
Though he plies the downtown routes, he said that he seldom gets a full complement of passengers. He gets to keep a maximum of only P300 a day. Unit rentals come as high as P600.
LTFRB-7 Director Ahmed Cuizon said he already forwarded the petition to their national office. He has yet to see if Citrasco’s petition will be consolidated with petitions filed in other provinces in the region.
If this happens, a public hearing might be conducted in Manila unless the board will order the hearing to take place in Cebu, he added.
Winefredo Flores, a janitor in a private school who earns minimum wage, said that the fare increase makes a big difference in their daily budget.
Flores said that with his P327 daily income, almost half of it will go to daily jeepney fares. Flores spends P15 a day for fare, his two children who are in high school are also spending about P30 for fares daily.
If the P2.50 fare increase will be approved and implemented, the P7.50 per ride of Flores will become P20. His daily fare will be P20 and his children will need P40 daily.
Flores said that even if the cost-of-living allowance (Cola) of P13 will be implemented, his earning will not be enough for fare alone.
Boboy Belarmino of the Coalition of Living Wage said they will appeal to President Benigno Aquino III to implement a wage increase instead of Cola.
Two petitions were filed by the labor groups in Cebu; P90 and P132. But instead of granting the petition, the wage board approved the P13-Cola.
Belarmino said they are not convinced with the board’s reasons for implementing the Cola.
The group still has 10 days from the day the approved Cola was published in local newspapers to appeal on the matter.