Months after the petition for a hike in jeepney and bus fares, drivers and operators have finally been granted their wish by transport officials. Effective 12 June this year, jeepney fare increased from P4.00 to P5.50 for the first four kilometers, and P1.00 for every succeeding kilometer. Bus fare, on the other hand, increased from P4.00 to P6.00 for the first five kilometers, and P1.25 for each succeeding kilometer.
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Bus and jeepney drivers and operators have filed in January and February, respectively, fare hike petitions before the Land Transportation Office in reaction to a series of increase in fuel prices. The last jeepney fare hike was in 2000, when diesel price averaged P12.15 per liter. Diesel fuel price averaged P17.83 in April 2004.
The government, taking into consideration the coming 10 May elections, was successful in delaying the process, with mitigating measures like offering discounted diesel fuel in a number of gas stations in select areas, as well as reducing tariffs on spare parts. This, even as transport groups held a nationwide strike in March to make government heed to their call.
Still hoping to get the much needed fare increase, transport groups haggled for a provisional increase of P1.00, until after their petition for the P1.50 fare increase for jeepneys and P2.00 for buses is approved. The government remained adamant in not granting even a provisional hike. Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza said an increase in fares would push labor groups to demand for a wage hike, and would trigger a chain of increases in the prices of basic commodities.
Finally, after a meeting in Malacañang with Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and transport officials on 29 March, a three-point compromise was agreed upon in lieu of the fare hike.
The government allowed jeepney operators to reduce the minimum distance for the base P4.00 jeepney fare from five kilometers to four. This adjustment, in effect, increased jeepney fares to P4.63, which was rounded off to P4.75 to facilitate payment since one-centavo coins are not circulated.
Another government concession was the expansion of the coverage of the P2.00 per liter discount of oil companies for diesel sold to public utility jeepneys and buses. Lastly, public utility transport drivers will be issued “out of line permits” so they could avail of the discounts from gasoline dealers outside their allowed routes.
The government, through the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) announced two weeks after the elections that the fare increase will finally take effect in mid-June.
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