‘Lower fare for tricycles too’

NNEKA Lim, a resident of Barangay Maguikay in Mandaue City, takes a tricycle to and from home.

She lamented that while the minimum jeepney fare has been lowered to P6.50, the tricycle fare remains at P7.

Lim said she pays the exact amount whenever she has coins. But when she doesn’t, some drivers collect  P8.

“Usahay maka-timing ko’g tarong nga driver, P7 ra gyud kuhaon. Pero kasagaran gyud, P8 kung tibuok imong kwarta (Some honest drivers collect only P7, but most collect P8 if you give a banknote),” she told Cebu Daily News.

Mandaue City Councilor Elstone Dabon, chairman of the committee on transportation, said the standard tricycle fare in Mandaue was reduced to P7 from P8 last year.

“Taud-taud na sab ang pagkunhod sa presyo sa lana. (Oil prices have been decreasing for a while now). I will revisit existing ordinance and see if there is a need to amend (the ordinance) to reduce minimum fare,” he said

Sisinio Seno, president of Mandaue City Federation of Operators and Tricycle Drivers Association, asked the city council not to immediately decrease tricycle fares because oil prices have continued to fluctuate.

“Hangyo lang nato, magpaminaw una ta. Dili permanente nga moos-os ang gasolina. Usahya mokalit na og saka. Maglisod na sa pag-implementar na sab kung motaas,” he said.

(Let’s wait and see. The decrease is not permanent. Oil prices sometimes increase. It would be hard for us to raise fares when oil prices increase again.)
Seno said commuters may report overcharging to the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM).

“Pwede na ilista ang plate number unya i-report ngadto sa TEAM. Ipatawag nana sila didto (They could list down the plate number and report it to TEAM, which will call the attention of the driver),” he said

TEAM operations chief Glenn Antigua said erring drivers will be issued citation tickets and their vehicles impounded.

There are 1,200 tricycle drivers in the city, each with a tricycle or two.

FARE CONSULTATIONS

In Cebu City, the Motorized Tricycles Regulatory Board (MTRB) plans to come up with a standard fare matrix for motorized tricycles plying the city’s barangays.

The board agreed during their meeting last Thursday afternoon to conduct a series of consultations and a public hearing before coming up with the standard tricycle fares.

The move is in response to an approved resolution requesting the board to study a possible reduction in tricycle fares following the series of oil price decreases and the rollback in the minimum jeepney fare.

“MTRB is in favor of fare reduction. The amount is to be determined after studies and public hearing,” said Rene Gregorio Bautista, head of the board.

The board, created through City Ordinance No. 2357 in 2012, has been operating since 2013.

Under Section 27 of the ordinance, the “MTRB, after a public hearing duly called for the purpose, shall determine, prescribe, approve, and periodically adjust reasonable fares, rates and other related charges in the operation of motorized tricycles.”

The board has issued permits to 262 motorized tricycles as of February 11. The ordinance specifies that only 489 motorized tricycles can be given permits.

It also states the 19 approved routes for tricycles as well as the corresponding number of allowed tricycles to ply each route. These are usually in interior roads in the barangays.

Eli Espina, the board’s secretary, said MTRB has been conducting operations to impound colorum tricycles or those that are not registered with the MTRB.

The Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) has also been impounding tricycles, especially those that pass through national roads, which is prohibited under the ordinance.