DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 25 March) – Tricycle drivers here have asked the local government for a P10 increase in base fare for the first kilometer and an additional P5 for every succeeding kilometer, citing drastic fuel price hikes.
In an interview on Tuesday, Michael Ibañez, a representative of the Tricycle Alliance of Davao City, said the group had submitted a petition for a fare rate adjustment to Vice Mayor Rodrigo “Rigo” S. Duterte on March 23.
Ibanez’s group also attended the regular session of the city council on March 24, where they raised concerns about the series of fuel price increases that have severely affected their livelihoods.
He said his group hopes the local council will grant their request.
He said the alliance has around 15,000 tricycle driver-members in the city, which accounts for barely half of the total number of drivers, including the unregistered ones.
Alan Ondoy, 45, a tricycle driver from Barangay 11-B Wilfredo Aquino, Poblacion District, said in an interview on Wednesday that there should be fare adjustments due to the extreme oil price hikes.
As announced by the Department of Energy, another round of fuel price increases took effect Tuesday: P11.88 per liter for diesel, P6.47 per liter for gasoline, and P13.66 per liter for kerosene.
Ondoy spends about P400 daily for four liters of gasoline, leaving him with a net income of only P200 to P300 since fuel prices began to surge. His daily earnings averaged P500 before the price hikes.
With this income, he said he can barely send money to his family in Surigao City and he may be forced to stop driving a tricycle if no fare adjustments are made.
“It’s really expensive. Imagine, before it was only P56, now it’s P98 per liter. That has a huge impact on us, especially since transportation fares remain the same,” he said in Cebuano.
For him, the fare rate adjustments would help cushion the impact of the rising fuel costs on tricycle drivers.
Ibañez said the current minimum fare for tricycles in the city remains at P10 for the first kilometer, unchanged since May 2020 despite years of rising inflation.
“Big time fuel hike implemented on March 17, 2026, has seen gasoline prices in Davao City soar to approximately P91.69 per liter, a staggering 140% increase from the P38 per liter price level when the current fare was established,” the group’s petition noted.
It added that the “tricycle sector in Davao City currently holds the distinction of having the lowest fare rates in the Philippines, yet faces operating costs that have tripled, leaving drivers with a daily take-home pay that often falls below the poverty threshold after fuel and ‘boundary’ expenses.” (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
