A transport official has expressed fear some bus firms may have to stop rolling due to what he calls looming revenue losses following a Supreme Court decision affirming the legality of a salary scheme that gives bus drivers and conductors fixed salaries and additional pay for good performance.
Provincial Bus Operators Association of the Philippines executive director Alex Yague said the Court, in a ruling released last week, dismissed the petition of the PBOAP and transport groups that questioned the wage scheme set in 2012 by the Department of Labor and Employment and transport regulators.
Aileen Lizada, member of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, said the new salary system would entice drivers to follow traffic rules as they would no longer need to rush to load passengers to take home a commission.
The new wage rules, she added, would discourage drivers from working long hours and abusing drugs to stay alert.
Lizada, addressing bus companies and operators, told dzMM in an interview beamed nationwide, “To the bus companies, operators, we know that you need to earn money.
“But let’s also understand that these bus drivers, who are in their prime, are giving everything for your firms.
“To the few who have yet to comply, we hope that you give what is due to your driver.”
According to Yague, some bus firms were already incurring losses over high fuel and maintenance costs, even without the wage scheme that would replace the commission or boundary-based payment system for drivers and conductors.
Yague said there was nothing they could do but to follow the Supreme Court ruling, but the effect of this would be that there would be some bus firms that might have to shut down.
