PUJ groups seek P1.50 fare hike

Five major jeepney organizations will file today a "consolidated" petition for a P1.50 fare hike before the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTRFB).

Efren de Luna, national president of the Philippine Confederation of Drivers Organizations-Alliance Concerned Transport Operators (PCDO-ACTO), said the fare increase petition includes a demand for a provisional authority (PA) for the immediate increase of the fare rate while the LTRFB is studying their petition.

De Luna identified their co-petitioners for the rate increase as the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Organizations Association of the Philippines (FEJODAP), MJODA, ALTODAP, and PISTON.

De Luna stressed that the fare increase was crucial for the survival of jeepney drivers and operators considering the recent round of oil price hikes which had also affected the price of diesel.

De Luna said that diesel, which was previously available to them at a subsidized price of P15.50, is now being sold at P15.70 or more at gas stations.

Aside from the rising price of diesel, De Luna said the price of jeepney spare parts have also increased.

"The P1.50 fare increase we are asking for is reasonable considering the rising price of diesel. We also need to feed and support our families," De Luna told The STAR in an interview.

The filing of the petition for fare hike of the five jeepney groups comes in the wake of the filing of a similar petition for a fare hike by three bus groups last month.

De Luna pointed out that jeepney groups gave the government, particularly the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Department of Energy, time for them to work for gas stations to again give the P15.50 subsidized diesel to public transport operators, but this has so far failed. – Rainier Allan Ronda