THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) in Davao Region welcomed the bid of the Davao City Council to pass a resolution seeking to hold the increase in taxi rates and hold a public hearing on the adjustment.
LTFRB-Davao director lawyer Teresita dela Peña-Yñiguez, in an interview with Sun.Star Davao, said the regional office will submit such a resolution to the central office for action.
Under the new rate scheme, there is no more waiting time rate, which used to be P3.50 every two minutes of waiting.
Instead, the meter will charge P2 per minute. The fare would be P13.50 per kilometer from the P3.50 per 300 meters.
"The passengers will only pay the new rate if the unit is already recalibrated. Actually, I understand the concern of the public on this matter. We will accept the resolution and forward it to the LTFRB central office in Manila," Yñiguez said.
As of the moment, there are about 500 taxi units here left for recalibration, Yñiguez said, adding that the office must recalibrate all the 5,500 taxi units in the region.
Yñiguez said the increase in taxi rates was decided last October, but the implementation was delayed and moved to February 2018 because they were waiting for the LTFRB central office in Manila to issue guidelines on the matter.
She said the increase in taxi rate was implemented following the approval of the petition filed by the Philippine National Taxi Operators Association (PNTOA) before the LTFRB central office, following the gasoline price hike last year.
"Aside from the gasoline price hike, the board also recognized the need for the taxi operators to install booking apps, closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera, dash-cam, GPS, and even WiFi in their units for better services," Yñiguez said.
