Olimpio Par, operations manager of the Yellow Bus Line Inc. (YBL), said the company initially increased to P150 the minimum fare on Monday for their General Santos City to Davao City routes from P120 for the deluxe buses.
He said the fare in the air-conditioned buses for the same route also increased to P200 from P175.
"We're appealing to the public to understand our situation. This is already a necessity for us since we've been actually implementing a fare matrix at the 2005 levels," Par said.
Based on an order from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), the new fare adjustment was set at P9 for the first five kilometers and additional P1.40 per kilometer for deluxe buses and P1.80 per kilometer for the air-conditioned buses.
He said the fare increases were supposed to have taken effect last May 21 but they only started to implement them last Monday.
Par said the two other bus companies operating in the area – Holiday and Husky Transport Inc. – also agreed to impose the same fare adjustments.
He said they also agreed to impose the fare adjustments during a meeting of the bus operators in Regions 11 and 12 last week.
On June 1, Par said they will also implement a P10 to P15 increase for fare from Koronadal-General Santos, Koronadal-Tacurong, Koronadal-Isulan and Koronadal-Surallah routes.
He said the new fare for air-conditioned buses from Koronadal to this city were set at P80 from P70 while those for deluxe buses will increase to P65 from P50.
Par said YBL, Holiday and Husky buses also agreed to impose new regular flat rates for Koronadal-Isulan, Koronadal-Tacurong and Koronadal-Surallah routes.
"These new fares are actually discounted flat rates that are much lower than the regular fares. For instance, the regular fare for the Koronadal-General Santos route would actually reach P104 but we only set the fare at P65," he said. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)