Eksena sa Jeepney

I had this written when I was getting dramatic over my transportation boboos. I was supposed to add how drivers could also be very vulnerable - always at risk of having a passenger who is a robber or a hold - upper (is hold-upper a real word? or is that just Filipino English?), passengers who do not give the appropriate fare, or passengers who do not give their fare at all. And there are many stories about drivers' nightmares too.
Anyway, I got lazy. So I was not able to put the revisions that I wanted.

090105
Eksena sa Jeepney

People don’t care anymore... so it seems. And there is no better place to demonstrate this than in a public utility vehicle. Jeepneys, buses, FXs, taxis.
I usually try not to stress myself by hurrying to work in the mornings, but there are many days when one needs to rush and every split second is precious. But that is not what I wish to speak about.
I arrive here at work, more sad than indignant. I had been, during the past weeks observing how the public utility vehicle has become such a place of mistrust. A few examples:
A person asks if the jeepney will pass into a certain area where she wishes to go. The driver does not respond but allows the person to get into the jeep anyway. The person directs the question again to no one in particular, and the jeep moves on. The jeep was not going to the place where the person needed to go. I had to ask the woman again where she was going and told her to transfer to the other jeep plying that road.
I get into an FX from the Quezon Avenue and EDSA Highway intersection with the intention of going to Morayta. I gave a hundred and the driver gives me back seventy pesos. I was quite sure there was an injustice there (I allow myself to be corrected), so I asked the driver if the fare from the Highway to Morayta was really P30, in the hearing of my co-passengers. He said yes. My co-passengers remained silent. I got out still feeling overcharged and the feeling was intensified by the thought that the FX I rode in had the name, “God’s Resource” and the driver was tuned to a Christian radio station.
I get into an FX again, on my way to work. I get down at the boundary of Quezon City and Manila City, the landmark more popularly known as “Welcome Rotonda.” I paid twenty and expected at least a five peso change. Some drivers charge fifteen to that place from where I get in, but the charge ought to be only ten. I let it off when the driver charges me fifteen because I still think that it’s reasonable given the jeepney driver charges the same amount even with his less comfortable vehicle. The driver did not return my change immediately so I asked him for it during a traffic lull, repeating where I got in and where I was to get off, in the hearing of my co-passengers. He gave me a ten peso change, for which I was thankful. I then proceeded to take Nicholas Nickleby from my backpack and whiled the ride reading. I got quite engrossed, such that when I looked up from my reading, I was already at the railroad crossing at Vito Cruz. I was way far off from the landmark! I looked at the passenger in front of me and he avoided me with a knowing look. Nobody, not even my seatmates gave me a signal, and it doesn’t have to be awkward doing that because all they have to say is, “Miss, Welcome na.”

I appreciate the time when I was going to SM North from UP and there was a bunch of boys with me on the jeep. I sometimes have the habit of sleeping in jeeps when the route is familiar and long. I was surprised when I received a sharp tap on my knees. One of the boys took the effort to wake me up before they left. We were the last passengers on the jeepney. I somehow expected people to take such little gestures of social responsibility.

And the drivers also have their own share of horror stories.

But there are still greater reasons why the public utility vehicle is probably the most mistrustful place in the Philippines. Ask anybody who has been held up twice in an FX. Or someone who, while in an FX, witnessed a robbery going on at the jeep in front of them. Ask someone who would rather take the long route of hopping on the LRT and then on the MRT, only to avoid getting into a jeep or FX at ten in the evening. Ask anybody who sends text messages while his or her cell phone is still halfway inside his/her bag never fully exposing it.


For many people it is not already strange. Filipinos put up with little injustices and inconveniences as long as it does not happen to them. But it is very sad. If we cannot feel safe within our public utility vehicles, how can we feel safe in our country, I wonder.