Public hearing on Cebu fare increase petition set - Cebu Circle | Cebu City, Philippines

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Public hearing on Cebu fare increase petition set

August 22, 2009 CEBU CITY — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 has scheduled a public hearing on the petition of transport groups in Cebu for a P1 fare increase.

LTFRB 7 Director Romulo Bernardez told Manila Bulletin that the public hearing will take place on September 4 at the LTFRB 7 office even as he urged the commuting public to attend the hearing and air their side on the issue of the fare increase.

Bernardez noted that the movement of oil prices has become very erratic and could affect the board’s decision to whether or not grant the request of the Cebu Confederation of Transport Operators and Drivers Association Inc. (CCTODI), the umbrella organization of transport groups in Cebu, for a P1-increase on minimum fare.

“I’m still waiting to see the pump price for the whole week and should this continue to go down, I will hold any activity relative to the petition for a fare increase in abeyance,” said Bernardez.

Ryan Benjamin Yu, Chairman of CCTODI, said the group only seeks a P1-increase in minimum fare for the first five kilometers. The group will not ask for an increase in the succeeding kilometer.

Yu earlier said that while one transport group, the Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbu (NADSU) is not joining their call, still, granting CCTODI’s request for a fare increase will not only benefit jeepney drivers in Cebu but in other cities in the Visayas as well.

The group had long been wanted to file their fare increase petition but had been held back by Bernardez who invoked hard financial times for not granting CCTODI’s rqequest.

However, Yu stressed that the price of diesel per liter has already jumped by P4.50 in the past two weeks and jeepney drivers in Cebu can no longer cope with expenses unless an increase in minimum fare is effected.

CCTODI’s member organizations include the Alyansa sa Nagkahiusang Drayber-Operator Alang sa Reporma (ANDAR), Southern Cebu Operators and Drivers Association Inc. (SCODAI), Visayan United Drivers Transport Services Cooperative (VUDTRASCO), Cebu Integrated Transport Service Multi-Purpose Cooperative (CITRASCO), Metro Cebu Taxi Operators Association (MCTOA), Cebu Provincial Bus Operators (CPBOA) and the Cebu Truckers Association Inc. (CTAI). (Manila Bulletin)

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