Philippine Jeepneys: Love 'em, Hate 'em

photo taken from blogtext.org

Jeepneys are the main mode of transportation in the Philippines. So no matter how much you hate them, I don't think they'll be gone in the foreseeable future.



Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with having jeepneys. The fares are cheap, but then that's about it. Other than that, they're hazardous to the environment and they're oftentimes filthy. I think electric-powered jeepneys would be a better alternative.

What's more, whenever there's a jeepney queue, the barkers will usually want to cram as many people as possible. Even if the jeep can only fit 8 persons per side, they will try to squeeze one more. I usually tell myself or sometimes would even want to blurt it out to the barker, "Ikaw kaya umupo at sumiksik sa space nayan?".

Lastly, most of them don't follow the No Smoking policy! It's already hard enough to ask politely that they stop smoking at least while driving, and they're not supposed to smoke in public jeepneys anyway. What happened earlier made me think that I've had it with jeepney drivers who are smoking.

Again, as usual, I rode a jeepney with a driver who was smoking. So I again asked politely if he could put off his smoking later as I have asthma. And what does he say? "Kung ayaw mo makalanghap ng usok mag taxi ka nalang." Nag pantig talaga tainga ko. "Eh bat may "no smoking" sticker sa jeep niyo? Di ba bawal naman talaga manigarilyo?" Then he reiterated what he said that I should have rode a cab instead. I really wanted to argue with him, but instead I made him feel that I will be filing a complaint against him. I took out my cell phone and looked for his jeepney's plate number. Good thing his route is just near our house, so as soon as got off the jeepney I googled the MMDA hotline and called. Too bad, the complaint office was already closed, but the operator told me to just call again tomorrow morning, and he gave the direct line to the complaint office.

So tomorrow I will call and complain about this, and hopefully the government will act upon my complaint. But I won't stop until I see any action and will from now on file a complain for every jeepney who violates the No Smoking Policy.