With continuous oil price hikes:
Drivers’ Income Still Low Despite Fare Hikes, and Sinks Still

How much has drivers’ income changed since April, the last time a transport strike was held before the Sept. 12 strike?

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

How much has drivers’ income changed since last April, the last time the Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston or united nationwide association of drivers and operators) held a transport strike before Sept. 12? Jeepney drivers, who comprise the membership of Piston, use diesel for their fuel needs. (The jeepney is the Filipino’s ingenuous improvisation of the World War II-vintage GI jeep. The modern jeepney seats about 20 passengers.) Last April, diesel was priced at P26.50 ($0.47, based on an exchange rate of P56.17 per US dollar) a liter. It is currently worth P31.50 ($0.56) a liter. In separate interviews with Bulatlat, Piston president Mar Garvida and its vice-president for the National Capital Region (NCR) Modesto Floranda said jeepney drivers consume about 30 liters of diesel and take in about 300 passengers a day. Piston president Mar Garvida Photo by Alexander Martin Remollino

At P26.50 ($0.47), 30 liters of diesel cost P795 ($14.15). With the minimum fare pegged in April at P5.50 ($0.10), a jeepney driver had to take in 145 passengers just to recover fuel cost. Under the minimum fare rate as of last April, a driver earned a gross income of P1,650 ($29.37) daily. Less the P795 ($14.15) spent for diesel and the boundary fee, which was then P750 ($13.35), the driver was left with P105 ($1.87) in daily net income.

The average family living wage at that time was pegged at P492.19 ($8.76), according to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC). In April 2005, drivers’ income was therefore P389.19 ($6.93) short of the living wage for a family of six.

How do jeepney drivers fare today?

With the minimum fare currently pegged at P7.50 ($0.13), a jeepney driver earns a gross income of P2,250 ($40.06), assuming an average load of 300 passengers a day. With diesel priced at P31.50 ($0.56) a liter, a driver spends P945 ($16.82) daily because he or she needs about 30 liters.

Drivers now spend P900 ($16.02) a day as boundary fee, according to Floranda, as prices of spare parts also rise with every major oil price increase.

Given the cost of diesel and the boundary fee, a driver is therefore left with P405 ($7.21) as net income. This is P196.67 ($3.50) short of the national average family living wage  which now stands at P601.67 ($10.71) based on August 2005 data from the NWPC. In the NCR, where many jeepney drivers are based, the daily cost of living for a family of six is now P677 ($12.05). In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), it currently stands at P854 ($15.20).

Continuously rising oil prices, which contribute greatly to steep increases in the cost of living, are fast negating whatever additional income jeepney drivers may have secured from the P2 ($0.04) fare hike last June. The implementation of the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) law, which covers fuel, is sure to make a deeper dent into their income.

Garvida estimates that it will cost pump prices to rise by as much as P3 ($0.05). Bulatlat

BACK TO TOP ■  PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION  ■   COMMENT

© 2004 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Publications

Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.