AL ELLEMA

The riding public had been silently suffering from unjust fares that public transportation companies impose, in most cases without conducting the requisite public consultation. The fares are fixed by government regulatory agencies on the bases of fuel cost that varies with so many parameters, chief of them the foreign exchange that could hardly be understood by the hapless passenger. Such varying fuel prices are always to the detriment of the riding public who suffer from unfair fares that are adjusted on the upscale but are never reduced when fuel prices decrease.

Transportation operators could easily find flimsy justifications just to quell the outcry of the riding public demanding fare reduction. The factors to defend fare reduction are aplenty such as operating costs, wages of crew manning the vehicle and many other reasons just to outweigh the demand for fare reduction. The defense is made effective by strong lobby that transport operators employ to persuade policymakers that they would be at a great loss if fare rates are reduced. Such threat aims to condition the public mind that their loss would result in transportation crisis as they will be forced to reduce or even stop operations.

The situation is always in favor of transport operators who are organized and could show that their force to influence policymakers and defeat the outcry of the riding public. On the other hand, the riding public are a ragtag bunch of individuals complaining on their plight.
comments to alellema@yahoo.com