Commuters are bracing for a possible one-peso increase in public transportation fares.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, which regulates the fares, is to announce today if it will approve or not the hike petitioned for by transport groups, whose drivers have seen their earnings dwindle due to the almost weekly rise in fuel prices.

If LTFRB grants the fare increase, the minimum jeepney fare, for example, would be P13 from P12.

Even just a one-peso increase would hurt many commuters who are also reeling from the high prices of food. Student commuters will also be affected as their discounted fare will also rise.

Some unlucky commuters may be charged even more, like a 19-year-old Psychology student in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.

In a recent Facebook post that went viral, the student narrated how she was forced to disembark from a modern jeepney when the conductor told her she had to pay twice the fare because, with her size, she occupied two seats.

It was not that she couldn't afford the P22 student fare for two seats that prompted her to get off. In her post, the student said she was disgusted with the conductor for shaming her in front of the other passengers, GMA Regional TV One Western Visayas reported.

RSJ Lines Inc., the operator of the jeepney, has issued a public apology over the incident and said it suspended the conductor, who claimed he was only joking about charging the passenger double the fare.