Minimum fare for jeepneys in NCR now only P7.50, but confusion persists
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) announced last Thursday that the minimum fare in public utility jeepneys in Metro Manila will be rolled back from P8.50 to P7.50.
For their part, students, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities, who are all entitled to a 20% discount in their transportation fare, will only have to pay P6.00. The announcement covers jeepneys traveling to Manila that are based in nearby provinces like Cavite and Rizal.
The provisional fare reduction, which was triggered by the series of roll backs in oil prices locally, is a welcome development with the nation preparing for the coming holiday season.
CNN International recently reported that the price of oil have slipped to $60 a barrel for the first time since July 2009.
LTFRB Chair Winston Ginez, however, did not specify the fare reduction for distances outside the first four kilometers covered by the minimum fare.
Speaking to radio station DZBB, Robert Cabrera III, LTFRB’s executive director, insisted that the price roll back should be implemented immediately and that there’s no need for a fare matrix.
In the past few days, it seems that some jeepney drivers go around this vague situation by charging their passengers with the fare rate they were charging before the most recent fare hike was implemented last June.
That is not exactly accurate since the fare hike last June was only P0.50 while the LTFRB is mandating a reduction of P1.00 at present. In short, drivers should be charging fare rates lower than what it was prior to June 2014.
Without clearer guidelines from LTFRB, expect a lot of drivers to be engaged in heated arguments against their passengers. Incidentally, that is the subject of the very first blog post here in The Filipino Scribe. 🙂
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