Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Monday called on the government and the petitioning transport operators to thoroughly study any move to increase the minimum fare for public utility vehicles, particularly jeepneys, citing its possible effects on the city’s poor.
Belmonte made this call after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board started deliberating on the fare hike petitions filed by various transport groups in the wake of skyrocketing fuel prices.
While admitting that petitions for fare adjustments is outside the jurisdiction of the city government, the vice mayor said she is only concerned with its effects on QC’s indigent.
“I would just like to encourage them to make studies—make sure that there’s a proper basis for whatever decision they make, and it’s consulted with the people,” she said.
Since it involves mass transit commonly patronized by the poor, she said such fare increase petitions should be scrutinized vis-à-vis the interests of the transport operators and PUV drivers, especially jeepney drivers.
“That’s mass transit you’re talking about,” Belmonte said. “That’s a transit of the poorest of the poor. They have to make sure that their passengers are also not going to be adversely affected.”
“It’s not an arbitrary decision,” she added.
In a nine-page petition, 22 public utility jeepney operators plying routes in Quezon City and Marikina reasoned out that the current base fare of P8 for the first four kilometers was no longer enough to cover their operating expenses due to rising fuel prices.