Can a US$48,000 jeepney repay itself? Over half the Philippines' modernised operators have stopped paying — The Philippine Star
The Development Bank of the Philippines, a state-owned lender, says 55 percent of the US$120 million it lent jeepney operators has gone past due: US$65 million unpaid across 2,753 of 3,249 modern units.
Positive-sum angle: The arrears are a price signal every SEA fleet financier can read: a US$48,000 vehicle cannot be repaid from a farebox priced for an US$8,000 one. Lenders, cooperatives and body builders all gain once the loan is sized to the route's daily take.
What's the impact: Founders building fleet leasing in Manila, Jakarta or Ho Chi Minh City should underwrite on daily farebox data, not on the sticker price of the vehicle. The government's US$320 (P20,000) monthly top-up runs three months; the operators it misses are the first customers.
