Only After Jeeps are Gone

An American visitor asked my dad once what he thought about the apparent infrastructure or government improvements in the Philippines.  He asked in answer, "do you still see the jeepneys?"  He continued, "As long as you see them, we haven't changed."


We can't deny the good that the MRT and LRT have done to public commuting, or the NLEX and SLEX and Skyway, despite some controversies.  The MMDA at least is giving some effort to transparency, unlike the city governments.  And we notice the minor tweaks being done to improve the major highways of the metropolis.


But still iconic to the Philippines is the jeepney.  We export the idea of the jeepney as a local pride.  It's a love-it-or-hate-it-or-both-at-the-same-time nationalistic manufacture, however anachronistic.


The jeepney is a symbol of the Philippines.  But do we still want it to be our symbol?  Or has it now become a handicap, bringing us back in time when we were arguably the American pearl of the orient?  When technologically, everything else has improved leaps and bounds, we have helplessly, stoically depended on this vestige of both wartime and the glorious days when we were somewhere on top of Asia.



What is it with jeepneys that a lot of people have come to detest? 


When I'm driving, I hate how they (and buses) control the average traffic speed with their wasteful driving antics.  They sometimes drive too slow, because they're on a hunt.  They hog two or three lanes without care to other vehicles.  They swerve from Q. Ave's U-turn slots to the farthest lanes recklessly.  And they don't even know how to make a left-turn or u-turn properly.  They can't be expected to park properly, at most blocking one lane only, to load or unload passengers.  They have a discourteous predisposition to split lanes and make three lanes into five lanes, causing severe traffic merge slowdowns.  They get out of their lane, without regard to slowing incoming traffic, only get right back, because they see some prospects.  And their totally bizarre claims in the TV that private vehicles are the cause of traffic!  That does not follow.

When I ride them, I hate the cigarette smoke and the carbon monoxide gusting to my face.  I hate it when jeepneys stop at inappropriate places to get passengers, and I dislike the people who do not know how to walk to the right stops or to get down the jeep only when it has parked properly.  I don't like seeing mothers in the jeep teaching their children to throw the candy wrappers to the street.  I don't like the jeepneys waiting too long at stops.  I find the inhumane standard of squeezing 8 persons in a bench designed only for 7 anorexics objectionable.  I dislike that they use fake driver's license to get away with their wholesale disregard for traffic rules and etiquettes.  And I dislike the traffic enforcers in their pay to let them get away.  I dislike them yet I depend on them.  For some inexplicable reason,  I've found them safer than taxis.  But they could still be safer.

So where do we go from here?  We're improving the roads, and the rules, and expanding our options.  But will there be a place for jeeps in the future?  Are we ready to move on to a better model, if there exists such?  I'm afraid our politicians do not have the guts to do anything.  Jeepney drivers and their families are voters after all.  It's a big labor problem.

Is there a way to fix the mess, but still have jeeps?  Perhaps the highly competitive jeepney market is an issue.  Can the Philippines ultimately, progressively change after all, even if the jeepneys get to stay.