Fare hike looms in Cebu, region

Commuters in Cebu and the rest of the region will have to brace for another round of fare increase, as the Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbo rekindles their long-overdue fare hike petition filed before the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board last year.

The militant transport group is asking once again the LTFRB to level off Cebu’s minimum kilometer distance and the jeepney’s minimum fare to that of Manila contending that prices of diesel and gasoline per liter here are more expensive.

In a press conference yesterday, NADSU council member for Cebu province Eduardo Geolin said that Regions VII and VI have a minimum fare of P6 for the first five kilometers while Metro Manila has a minimum fare of P7 for the first four kilometers.

Ruben Rama, NADSU secretary general said that for diesel alone, the price in Manila is P34.50 per liter while P35.26 per liter in Cebu, and yet Manila has a higher jeepney fare for shorter kilometer distance.

“Dugay na mi nihangyo sa LTFRB pero hangtod karon wa pa na nila lihoka ang among petition nga sobra na usa ka tuig,” Geolin said.

If LTFRB grants the petition, Cebu and the rest of Region VII and VI will have a minimum fare of P7 or an increase of P1 from the current minimum fare of P6.

Other concerns raised by NADSU include the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law, which they tagged as the “culprit behind the series of oil price increases”, and other local ordinances they branded as anti-transport and anti-drivers.”

NADSU’s mother organization, the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper Nationwide (PISTON) is most likely to launch a nationwide strike if the concerns of the transport sector will not be addressed including their concerns.

But so far, Geolin said they are still in the build-up stage.

During the same press conference, they also express alarm over the presence of KMK Transport, which engages in the business of mass transportation through buses.

Geolin said that so far, there are 12 KMK buses running on the routes from Minglanilla and the cities of Talisay and Mandaue to Cebu City and back. He said these buses are traversing these routes allegedly without any franchises.

They said that the presence of these buses would surely put them on the side. They suspected that jeepneys will eventually be phased out as over 100 buses will be put on the streets, a scenario they said they won’t allow. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/MEEV