As promised, jeepney operators and drivers observed a “holiday” at the start of the week, stranding thousands of commuters but easing traffic and improving air quality in the chronically congested streets of Metro Manila.
The holiday was in protest against plans to phase out the mass transport vehicle that has been ubiquitous in this country for over half a century. With their gaudy body paint, blaring music and uniquely Pinoy nuggets of wisdom about drivers being sweet lovers, jeepneys have been featured in Philippine postcards and transformed into tourist souvenirs.
While symbolizing Filipino culture, however, the jeepney has also become associated with inefficient and unsustainable mass transportation in Metro Manila. Jeepneys are among the biggest sources of carbon emissions. Their drivers are also notoriously resistant to any effort to impose road discipline, picking up and unloading passengers even in the middle of busy thoroughfares and turning stops into virtual terminals.
Thanks to the lack of better alternatives, however, the jeepney has managed to survive, despite tying up traffic in many areas and fouling up air quality in Metro Manila and other urban centers including the nation’s summer capital, Baguio City.
The proposal to phase out jeepneys from Metro Manila has been kicked around for decades now. Its revival by the Duterte administration will end up as another exercise in futility unless certain concerns are sufficiently addressed.
One is livelihood for the drivers who will be displaced as well as the operators, most of whom are small-scale transport owners. Relegating them to side streets or to the rural areas won’t work; most of them are in Metro Manila because they want the livelihood opportunities in the mega city.
Another concern is the alternative to the jeepney. More buses must be fielded and the light rail and commuter train services substantially upgraded if the administration wants the jeepney phase-out to enjoy mass support. Commuters don’t like the inefficiency of the jeepney and would readily take something faster, cleaner and more comfortable at a reasonable price. But buses, light rails and trains are packed like sardines throughout most of the day, and the average commuter cannot afford taking a taxi regularly.
Unless these concerns are addressed, the latest effort to phase out jeepneys will go the way of previous efforts – straight to the wastebasket.