With few public transport, tricycle fare soared in June

MANILA, Philippines — With few public transport available, tricycle fares soared in June, helping push headline inflation that month to 2.5 percent year-on-year, the highest in three months.

National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told a press conference on Tuesday that as many parts of the country gradually opened up under less restrictive general community quarantine (GCQ) last month, increases in costs of transportation, food, as well as “sin” products like cigarettes and liquors went faster than a month ago when the economy still under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

Specifically, tricycle fare inflation climbed to 26 percent year-on-year last June from May’s 6.6 percent.

Mapa said that in Metro Manila, the minimum charge per passenger rose by almost 44 percent to about P17 from P12 in May.

Year-on-year, average tricycle fare in the National Capital Region last month jumped 129 percent, Mapa said.

Mapa acknowledged that the increase in tricycle fare reflected social distancing restrictions such that a ride could accommodate a fewer number of passengers per trip.

In the case of oil products, they still posted a deflation or lower prices compared to a year ago levels of 15.1 percent, although a slower decline than May’s 28.8 percent.

A separate Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report showed that among poor families, inflation reached a one-year high of 3 percent year-on-year in June.

“The transport index, specifically, tricycle fare index, which registered an annual increase of 4.8 percent during the month, from its annual rate of negative 2.3 percent in May, pushed up the June inflation for the bottom 30-percent income households,” the PSA said.

Last week, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua pushed to further increase availability of public transport to help ramp up economic activities, as long as health standards were strictly maintained.

Chua, who heads the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority, had noted that while 75 percent of the economy had been opened under a GCQ setup, available public transportation did not even reach half of what was needed.

JPV