CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Public Utility Jeepney (PUJ) drivers here have questioned the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-10 (Northern Mindanao) for charging P520 for a copy of the fare matrix.
Joel Gabatan, chairman of the United Drivers Association (UNIDA) of Cagayan de Oro, wondered why the LTFRB is asking the amount for a paper document only showing the adjusted fare.
“What if they just follow what they do now where they use a paper and mark the minimum fare of P11. What if they would just follow that? I don’t think that would cost over P500,” Gabatan said in a phone interview on Friday, Sept. 23.
LTFRB-10 Director Aminoden Guro said the P520 is for the filing fee of the fare matrix for transport cooperatives per franchise case number and not per operator.
“If the case number is composed of 10 or 100 (PUJ) units, they just need to pay P520 for the filing fee and only additional P50 in every succeeding unit,” Guro said in a separate phone interview on Friday, Sept. 23.
However, Guro said there are case numbers that only consist of one public utility vehicle (PUV) unit. For transport cooperatives, there are more or less 20 units per case number, depending on the members of the cooperative.
The LTFRB-10 director said that they did not collect any filing fee in the previous fare hike in July for being a provisional increase.
The minimum fare for traditional and modern jeepneys in Northern Mindanao will increase by P1, from P11 to P12, starting Oct. 3. The flag-down rate for taxis will also increase by P5 from P40 to P45.
UNIDA thanked the LTFRB for approving the fare increase.
“The drivers were very happy because the fare increase is already a huge help for them. If they have 200 passengers per day, that would be an additional P200,” Gabatan said.
Gabatan urged members to get original copies of the adjusted fare matrix to enable them to appropriately collect the new minimum fare.
Guro reminded drivers that they cannot force their passengers to pay the new minimum fare on Oct. 3 without the new fare matrix displayed inside their units.
He urged commuters to immediately report to the LTFRB regional office drivers charging the P12 fare prior to Oct. 3.