Variables to determine fees: ICCC

THE Independent Consumer Competition Commission will consider all economic variables when working out the new PMV fares, says commissioner Paulus Ain.
The ICCC last week completed an awareness in Port Moresby for PMV operators and commuters, educating them on the correct bus fares for designated routes in the city.
The ICCC is currently conducting a PMV fare review.
“(It) has been going on for eight to nine months now. The process is to consult the general public, the owners and the PMV operators and to set the fees accordingly.
“We have gone out into the regional centres and issued them questionnaires for PMV operators to come forward with their cost of doing business.”
Ain said bus owners were required to give the cost of buying a bus from a dealership, spare parts to maintain the bus and fuel costs.
“However not a lot of PMV owners are coming forward to provide us with their costs and yet they are saying that we are charging fares because of this and that,” he said.
“We as the authority setting the fares need to get these costs so that we can factor them into all the economic variables. The outcome gives the right pricing to be charged.”
He said the current fares were set five years ago and the arrangement would expire at the end of this year.
“The current fares for designated routes are K1 for adults, 80 toea for tertiary students and high school students with ID (Identification) cards and 50 toea for primary school kids.”