It is encouraging to see that some of the government agencies involved in transportation have finally recognized the daily ordeal faced not just by motorists, but, more importantly, by commuters traveling to and from their homes and offices. It is the commuters who are truly grinding every day, from their respective houses to their workplaces and back again. Those with cars certainly enjoy the small luxury of air conditioning. But just like the commuters packed into public transport, they, too, must agonize through traffic to reach their destinations.
Even the option of taking the LRTs and MRTs is a back-breaking, everyday experience, characterized by the very long lines of waiting passengers. While this remains one of the cheapest modes of transport we have, it is far from comfortable, especially for our seniors who must endure going up and down steep stairs just to reach the stations.
The truth is, compared to many progressive countries in Asia, the Philippines is significantly lagging behind in providing comfortable and inexpensive means of public transportation. It’s a good development that many modern buses are now being introduced, but they primarily cater to commuters along the heavily congested EDSA. Only a few modern electric jeepneys are plying the outlying streets, while the ragtag, smoke-belching, old jeepneys, together with tricycles, still lord over the nooks and crannies of the metropolis.
If we had the kind of mass transportation systems found in nations like China, Japan, Korea, and others, do you truly think that thousands of office employees would still aspire to buy a car when they could commute both comfortably and very cheaply? The answer, perhaps, holds the key to finally solving our decades-long transportation crisis.
