Cebu City residents who want to borrow a Kaohsiung bus will now have to pay at least P1,000 as tariff.
Acting Cebu City Mayor Margarita Osmeña has approved the set of tariffs proposed by the city’s General Services Office (GSO) in order to remind people that there are expenses incurred in using the buses.
“We just put it there to show that there is an expense that is incurred when they use the Kaohsiung buses. It is just really a reminder,” Osmeña told reporters in a press conference yesterday.
She clarified that the tariffs are not for the city to generate revenue since they’re mostly for the gasoline and payment for the driver.
There will also be exceptions for the payment depending on the justification, but the utmost priority will be for the use of the buses for funerals. In these cases, the city will not collect payment.
Under the approved rates, the lowest is for use within Cebu City. The fee is P1,000.
For those using the buses outside Cebu City, the fee ranges from P2,000 to P3,500. Those who plan the use the buses specifically for tours will have to pay P8,000.
“It is very minimal. It doesn’t hurt,” Osmeña said.
The fee matrix was prepared by GSO assistant department head Ronaldo Malacora and approved by Osmeña.
He said City Hall has been collecting fees even before the past administration of incoming Mayor Tomas Osmeña. During the administration of suspended Mayor Michael Rama, however, Malacora said no standard fees were implemented. He was not certain how the fees were arrived at.
Based on the receipts issued by the dispatching unit of the Kaohsiung buses, the fees were as low as P500. But there was also a time when the rent for 10 buses reached P40,000, he recalled.
The city has a total of 25 units of Kaohsiung buses. But Malacora said only 18 are running. Seven are under repair.
Before the tariff was implemented, Malacora said most people would just send requests to use the buses and would just give a certain fee to the driver as well as pay for the fuel.
The new fee schedule already includes the payment for the driver and gasoline. An extra payment for the driver will apply during weekends.