This blog has been quiet for a while because I’ve been a bit busy the past 2 months. I started working as an information researcher for a private media firm in the construction industry so most of my time is spent at work and the 1 – 1 1/2 hour commutes in the morning and the afternoon. I ride LRT/Buendia based buses in the mornings and Batangas based buses in the afternoon. Sometimes I get lucky when I catch buses that allow discounted fares for regular commuters, but there are times when I have no choice but to get on whatever bus passes by to avoid being late for work.
I don’t have any complaints in the increase of bus fares since it’s part of life, what irks me are bus companies that charge fares with an extra P0.50.
For example, commuters from Tanauan to LRT/Buendia (and vice versa) are charged P95.50 on the ticket, but the conductors rarely give out P4.50 as change, most of the time you’ll only get P4.00. For each month I go to work, I get charged an additional P20.00 – P22.00 because I don’t receive an exact change.
I’d rather get a ticket that says P96.00 (which some buses do) so I wouldn’t feel cheated. P0.50 might be small change to some people, but if for example, there are 1000 commuters daily:
P0.50*1000 = P500.00
That’s P500.00 daily additional profit for bus operators that is not reflected on the tickets. If those 1000 commuters work for 20-22 days a month like me:
P20.00*1000 = P20,000.00
That’s P20,000 monthly untaxed profit. I say untaxed because it’s not reflected in the bus tickets which works as our receipts. However, this problem is not exclusively for buses. There are also stores, groceries and fastfood chains doing this. They should always have a big bag of P0.25 coins each day so they can give exact changes.
To be fair to everyone, if they can’t round down their prices, they shouldn’t it round up.
