Provincial bus group files P0.50 fare rate increase

MANILA, Philippines - Saddled with increasing diesel prices, a group of provincial bus operators yesterday filed for a P0.50 fare increase. The Philippine Bus Operators Association (PBOA) asked that its fares be raised to P1.90 from P1.45 per kilometer (km) for air-conditioned units and P1.60/km from P1.30/km for ordinary units. "We do not have any other option at the moment, but to increase fares. The [diesel] prices are just so high that our take-home [earnings] are insignificant," PBOA President Homero A. Mercado told BusinessWorld in a telephone interview. The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) confirmed the late afternoon filing. Mr. Mercado said increasing fares is a temporary relief to continuously rising fuel prices, adding the transportation sector should use cheaper fuel such as compressed natural gas (CNG), which is around 30% cheaper than diesel. "At the current promotional price, [CNG] is at P14.52 per liter. Imagine how much savings you can get compared with using diesel at nearly P40 [per liter]," he said. In a telephone interview, LTFRB Chairman Thompson C. Lantion admitted that escalating fuel prices is reducing earnings in the transportation sector, adding PBOA’s petition is going to follow the standard procedure. "Just like any other fare hike petition it has to undergo due process. Pending the hearing, we cannot predict the resolution of the LTFRB board," Mr. Lantion said. Meanwhile, taxi group Philippine National Taxi Operators Association is also planning to file a fare hike petition, a P10 increase in the flag down rate to P40 from P30. Other transport groups with pending fare hike applications are 1-Utak, P1.50 for the first four kilometers to P9 from the current P7.50, and an additional P0.50 per succeeding kilometer to P1.75 from P1.25; and Piston, P1 and P0.25 adjustments, respectively. - Marian Grace S. Ramos, BusinessWorld