The position and recommendation of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on the petitions for fare hike by transport groups will be submitted this week for the review of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), a transportation official said on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

LTFRB chairman Vigor D. Mendoza II said their recommendation will not only cover fare hike petitions for passenger jeepneys, but also for passenger buses and taxis.

“We will submit our recommendations to our bosses over the weekend. Right now, we are drafting the inputs based on the arguments during the public consultations made for this specific purpose which is the fare increase,” said Mendoza.

“The inputs that the transport sectors raised are not actually new. Every time there are petitions for fare increase, the same reasons are being raised so these reasons will be included to what we are going to submit,” he added

Mendoza led the public consultation with transport groups and other stakeholders at the LTFRB Central Office in Quezon City on Wednesday morning.

He earlier directed all LTFRB Regional Directors to hold public consultations in their respective areas and mandated them to submit the recommendation of each of the officials by Nov 14.

Based on the LTFRB data, at least five major transport groups filed a petition for fare increase as high as P5 increase in the first four kilometers, or minimum fare, in 2023 and at least P1 for every succeeding kilometer.

Since 2024, several transport groups covering passenger buses and taxis also filed petitions for fare increase, citing the hardships of coping with the meager income for PUVs against the rising fuel price, maintenance and other operational costs. #

“We want this to become nationwide in scope to hear the sentiments of all the concerned stakeholders. In today’s public consultation, it is fruitful since each sector made their inputs to come up with a solution that is acceptable to everybody,” said Mendoza in explaining the necessity to tackle the fare hike petitions.

He then disclosed that there were recommendations made by some transport groups to ease the burden of the commuters during the public consultation.

“We will echo the recommendations of the transport sector and other stakeholders once we submit ours to our bosses. We will include our position on matters that are within our powers but for the recommendations that are beyond the scope of the LTFRB, we will leave it to the proper authorities,” said Mendoza.

The decision on the matter is expected to take time as any petition for fare increase will still be studied by the national government.