Fare Hike

I wanted to post about a lot of stuff these past few days but it is only now that i feel like posting... (what??)
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Another fare hike occurred this week. it has been approved a long time ago but it was only implemented last monday(am i right?) due to some petitions of consumer groups. there's nothing we can do about it now but i will stil complain.. hehe :D

They justified this recent fare hike with the oil price increase. If you will ask jeepney drivers about their opinion on the matter, some of them will answer, "mas okay na ung roll back kesa sa magtaas ng pamasahe.. nahihirapan din lng ang mga commuters." This is very true. It is the consumer who suffers from this deal. I really think that drivers and consumers will prefer a roll back over a fare hike. Think about it. In a roll back, the driver and consumer gains or doesn't lose anything but in a fare hike, both parties lose something. Of course the big oil companies won't agree to a roll back because is will lessen their profits. Business is business for them. Companies really care about profit, that's a given fact. Maybe the government could've intervened.. maybe put less tax on diesel, the gasoline most used by jeepney drivers (is there a tax on gas? i think so... am i right? it's still a good...). If the tax is lessened then a roll back can be expected and maybe this fare hike would've been cancelled or delayed at least.

In order for drivers to ba able to collect the new fare, they must have the new fare matrix posted on their jeepneys. Not all drivers are collecting the new fare because of the reason stated above. But some jeepney drivers also collect the new fare without the new fare matrix. When this happens, you might encounter a conversation that goes like this:

passenger: "Nasaan ung taripa mo? Bakit nagtaas k na wla pa nmn?"
driver: "Ganun din naman un eh. 7.50 pa rin ang babayaran nyo."
passenger: "Kahit na. Bawal pa rin yan."
driver: "Eh kung dun kayo sa mga kasamahan ko sumakay eh ganun din ang isisingil sa inyo."
passenger: "Iyan ang hirap sa inyo eh.. mga abusado kayo."
driver: "Sige ho, kunin nyo na lng ung plate no. ko at ireport nyo ko. pasensya na ho nagtataas lng kc ang krudo."

This actually happened to me. I don't like it when arguments happen in a public place especially in a jeepney. I noticed in their conversation the frustration of the driver and the passenger as well. Neither of them like this hike. The lower class up to the middle class are the ones most affected by this hike. These people use public transportation the most. So in essence, this contributes to the already hard life of these people. I, as a student, do not like this as well. I only get a few bucks a day and most of it will be consumed on my transportation (especially in UP where you have to ride the jeep to go around.. luckily, no hike is implemented yet). We can't say that the rich are not affected since they use gasoline for their cars but hey! You're rich!!

There is one thing this driver said that i find unfair... "ok lng ho kung magbabayad kayo ng 7.50 o 6 o kahit 5.50.. sige lng tatanggapin ko." Do I still need to explain why this is unfair? I don't think so. I just pay the new fare hike and avoid an argument. It maybe unfair but I think I got enough in my life. I can spare a piso or two.

Sorry for a very long post.. if you have comments, please post them. I would really appreciate them :D thanks