30 June 2008 1,606 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

Here’s an interesting story from ABS-CBN

With the seemingly endless rounds of price hikes of petroleum products, vehicle owners and those in the transport industry have coped by either leaving their cars at home or resorting to alternative and cheaper fuel sources.

Two agencies—the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA)—have different figures on how many vehicles have been plying Edsa recently. But they have something in common: the fact that there are lesser vehicles on the road these days.

According to LTO’s latest traffic monitoring report, the daily volume of vehicles plying EDSA has been reduced by about five percent less in the past two weeks.

The MMDA’s traffic monitoring report, on the other hand, showed a decrease of about 10 percent in the same period. That’s equivalent to about 31,000 vehicles shaved from the actual volume count of 312,000 vehicles plying the route in a day or within 24 hours.

LTO Assistant Secretary Alberto Suansing said the agency’s revenue fell since oil prices shot up, as fewer vehicles have been registering with the LTO, including motorcycles which are considered as the most widely-used means of transportation now.

Authorities meanwhile gave several advices to motorists to save fuel, such as proper vehicle maintenance, trip planning, and carpooling.

Weekly increases in pump prices have been reported to continue until August. Last weekend’s was the 17^th round for the year. Philippine oil executives said that the increase was brought about by the spike in oil prices in the world market.

Public transport adapting

Transport operators and some local governments themselves are also adapting to endure the burden of high oil prices.

The local government of Parañaque, for one, has been helping tricycle operators convert their units’ engines to an alternative fuel, the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). LPG is much cheaper than the ubiquitous crude-oil sourced gasoline.

Tricycle operators have since expressed that they might not push for the P2 to P3 fare increase they were asking.

However, even if LPG is a lot cheaper, it still is dependent on imported products – which means corresponding taxes.

HM Transport, for one, has been experimenting on its compressed natural gas (CNG) buses plying the route of Manila-Laguna and Manila-Batangas.

Homer Mercado, owner and operator of HM buses, said aside from emitting cleaner air, they spend less: P18.30 per kilogram of CNG compared to P52.50 per liter of diesel.

But there still is a concern. The one and only refilling station of CNG buses is located in Mamplasan in Biñan, Laguna, and CNG bus operators fear they might run out of supply of CNG.