Insights on the PUJ minimum fare increase vs oil prices
I saw an infographic earlier on the PUJ minimum fare over the years, and thought it was interesting but lacking. So I decided to add to it. I looked up oil prices manually and used ChatGPT for the math and analysis.
Oil prices were taken from the Department of Energy website and the 2012 IOPRC report.
Key factors to the price increases over the years with significant are:
Oil Market Volatility 2008 Oil Crises abd more recently, the Russia-Ukraine War
Increased Globale demand for Diesel - Industrialization shipping, and logistics increased. Mainly because of the boom in e-commerce and by the COVID-19 pandemic
Refining & Environmental Regulations - Cleaner Diesel = more expensive to produce = increased cost
I hope this post can help enlighten and make us more aware and sensitive to these topics so we can have more informed comments and opinions.
Now I'm all for the modernization of PUVs because they are generally unsafe (not just the vehicles themselves, but driver behavior as well), but seeing these numbers makes me see why it's so hard for many operators to accept it. We haven't even added the cost of living these days.