Bus fares go up

THE CENTRAL office of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has granted the provisional fare increase for public utility buses (PUBs) nationwide.

Fare for the first five kilometers is set at P9. An additional P1.55 will be collected from the passenger of an ordinary bus for each succeeding kilometer.

LTFRB 7 Director Reynaldo Elnar said bus operators must first obtain the fare matrix before they could collect the new fare.

He said the fare adjustment was granted last Oct. 18 yet, but its implementation was postponed when prices of petroleum products dropped.

During the LTFRB 7 Regional Management Conference in Camiguin last March 8, the agency decided to implement the provisional fare hike.

The LTFRB 7 order announcing the fare increase came out in a newspaper last March 14.

A passenger of a regular air-con- ditioned bus will pay an additional P1.75 for each succeeding kilometer; P1.85 for a deluxe air-conditioned bus; P1.95 for a super deluxe air-conditioned bus; and P2.40 for a luxury air-conditioned bus.

Elnar said Vallacar Transit Inc., the company that runs Ceres buses, had already obtained fare matrices for its buses, with each matrix costing P520.

He said violators will be fined P5,000 for the first offense and P10,000 for the second offense. The operator’s franchise will be suspended for the third offense.

Julito Flores, chairman of the Cebu Provincial Bus and MiniBus Operators Transport Cooperative, said their members couldn’t start collecting the new fare because they still needed to obtain fare matrices.

The old LTFRB standard fare was set at P8.50 for the first five kilometers and P1.45 for each succeeding kilometer.

Last October, the Cebu Provincial Bus Operators Association and the Cebu South Mini-Bus Operators Association petitioned the LTFRB to raise the fare to P10 for the first five kilometers and P1.50 for each succeeding kilometer.