AFTER a 50-centavo fare cut for public utility jeepneys, the riding public can now expect a “permanent” P10-fare reduction for taxis in Metro Manila and the other regions, an official of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board said on Sunday.
Ariel Enrile Inton Jr., LTFRB board member, said the Philippine National Taxi Operators Association Inc. has already agreed with a permanent P30 taxi fare rollback on flag-down rate due to a “dramatic” plunge in the prices of fuel.
“I have just talked to PNTOA president Jesus Manuel Suntay about the flag-down rate reduction, and he has already agreed,” he told The Standard.
LTFRB is set to take up the separate petitions of Negros Oriental Rep. Manuel Iway for a fare reduction for taxis and public utility buses soon.
The board members—Inton and Ronaldo Corpus—will also resolve a motion for reconsideration seeking the reversal of a March 2015 board decision granting a provisional P10 rollback in the taxi flag-down rate.
PNTOA earlier bucked the petition.
In recent news conference, Suntay and vice president Leo Carlo San Juan said the flag-down reduction was illogical despite a big-time rollback in the prices of pump products.
Suntay said taxi drivers were no longer earning that much due to traffic.
In August 2015, PNTOA filed a petition for the reduction of the waiting time fare rate for taxis.
”The petition has not yet been acted upon,” San Juan told The Standard.
The taxi group urged LTFRB to allow the increase of the P3.50 waiting time rate per two minutes to P5.
In January, LTFRB allowed a 50 centavo provisional fare rollbacks or jeepneys in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog.