THE Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) committee on public utilities will conduct another public hearing on Wednesday to help determine if the council should push through with its plan to override the veto of Mayor Benjamin Lim on the city ordinance adjusting tricycle fare rates in Dagupan.

Councilor Karlos Reyna, committee chairman, said Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, SP presiding officer, has given instruction to hold another consultation with tricycle drivers and operators who were dismayed by the mayor’s veto of Ordinance No. 1966-2011.

While the eight members of the majority in the SP have indicated that they are keen on overriding the mayor’s veto, nine votes are required to do so and city hall observers expressed doubts that the four members of the minority led by Lim’s son, Councilor Brian Lim, would sustain their original vote.

It will be recalled that when Ordinance No. 1966-2011 was passed from the first to the third readings and later the final reading, the members of the minority concurred and voted with the majority.

Under the approved ordinance, the new minimum fare for tricycles is set at P10 for the first two kilometers and P2 for every kilometer thereafter.

The mayor vetoed the ordinance saying the minimum should be set at P10 for the first three kilometers not first two kilometers, in the interests of the riding public.

Lim, in a message sent to the SP dated 7 June 2011, reads: “While the interest (sic) of the tricycle operators and drivers is important, we have to likewise consider the interest of the riding public. A balancing of interest should be the norm.”

FATODA

Amado Tagana, president of the Federation of Accredited Tricycle Operators of Dagupan (FATODA), appeared before the SP on June 27 and he reiterated his group’s position that the minimum P10 for the first two kilometers is “just and reasonable”.

He explained that a tricycle driver/operator spends about P2.50 on fuel per kilometer, or P5 for two kilometers and tricycles are not assured of passengers on their return trips.

Further, Tagana said drivers who do not own their tricycles pay P100 per day as boundary fee to the owner-operator.

“Talong-talo kami sa P10 minimum fare for three kilometers,” Tagana said.

With the mayor’s veto on the ordinance, the minimum tricycle fare currently stands at the old rate of P7 for the first four kilometers per Ordinance No. 1863-2006 or the Revised Tricycle Fare Ordinance of 2006.

Fernandez said students, the largest commuting sector in the city, have expressed support to the ordinance provided that tricycle drivers stop the practice of overcharging on some routes.

Tagana earlier assured the city council that the fare matrix that is required for posting inside the tricycle would be followed and tricycle drivers who violate this can be reported by the riding public to the Public Order and Safety Office (POSO) through a number provided on the matrix.

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