Phase Out the Obsolete Jeepney (an excerpt)

Neal H. Cruz

If the jeepney strike pushes through today, the government should use it to phase out the jeepneys. This
World War II relic should have been phased out a long time ago but successive administrations had no
balls to go through with the phaseout. They were afraid of the jeepney drivers who always threatened a
strike when they were told to obey the law. And there were not enough buses to replace the jeepneys to
service commuters.
…
But the jeepney, although a tourist attraction and a romantic example of folk art, is the principal
source of the daily traffic jams. Its drivers are undisciplined, reckless and probably don’t know half of the
traffic rules. Because of the huge number of vehicles in Metro Manila, there is only one way to improve
traffic: make each and every driver, private and public, obey each and every traffic rule.
Jeepney drivers have gotten away for so long with murder by bribing corrupt policemen that it is
a shock to them to be made to obey traffic rules and be fined if they violate them. Anarchy reigns in the
streets because of them.
Although they are not in the driver’s seat, jeepney operators are also to blame for the anarchy.
They make the drivers pay a flat rental (the boundary) for the jeepney. Whatever the driver earns in
excess of the boundary, plus the cost of fuel and oil–and bribes–is his take-home pay. So the driver is
forced to break traffic rules so that he can earn as much as he can. But that is no excuse.
Perhaps if the operator pays his driver a regular salary, plus social security and medicare
premiums, and fixed times for trips, the driver would be less reckless and we would have more orderly
traffic.
As for the jeepney terminals, they really are a source of traffic congestion. Try this: whenever you
come to a traffic jam, trace the source and in many cases it would be a jeepney terminal. Jeepneys lined
up along a narrow street take up space intended for moving vehicles. Some jeepney routes are too short,
which means more terminals–and bigger fares for passengers.
Another reason why the jeepney should be phased out is that it takes up too much road space and
consumes more fuel for the number of passengers it can accommodate. One bus can take in the
passengers of 10 jeepneys but take up only a fourth of the space occupied by the 10 jeepneys. In short, the
jeepney is all right in the provinces where there is ample road space but not in a crowded metropolis like
Metro Manila. It was great as emergency civilian transportation during the Liberation days, but not
anymore. Alas, it has become obsolete in the city.
The phase out doesn’t mean throwing the jeepneys into the junk heap and their drivers into the
ranks of the jobless. There is a great need for the jeepney in many areas of the Philippines where there is a
shortage of transportation. Send them there.
Where will the commuters ride without the jeepneys? Send in more buses with salaried drivers
and conductors and fixed trip schedules so they don’t have to clog loading/unloading zones waiting for
passengers. Organize the bus companies in Metro Manila into one super-consortium so that the bus ticket
of one company can be used to transfer to another bus of a different company. This is to prevent
passengers and buses clogging bus stops because they are waiting for the bus going exactly to where they
are going. If transfers are allowed, they can board any bus going in the same direction (and the bus
doesn’t have to wait long for passengers) and then transfer to another bus at their convenience.
Encourage commuters to use the Metrotren by improving the coaches and having more trips.
Use the Pasig River. The Metro Ferry failed because there were not enough passengers mainly
because the boats were small. Hong Kong type shallow-drift ferries will certainly attract more passengers.
Use the smaller boats during high tide to be able to pass under the bridges. Have another ferry service to
Cavite City to relieve traffic on Coastal Road. (There used to be one; why was it discontinued?)
And hurry up with the C-5 and the C-6. …