The New Normal Jeepnies, Tricycles, and Taxis

The new normal is here and in Manila that means no jeepnies.  But where I live jeepnies are allowed though they have been modified. Let's take a look.

Each jeepney has its seats partitioned so that only 12-8 people, depending on the size of the vehicle, can ride at a time. This is good because it stops crowding. Having twenty people squished together is dangerous. But with less riders the price has increased. A 7 peso ride is now a 10 peso ride. However payment is still made the same way: in cash! And it's handed down from the passengers to the driver. So in that respect nothing has changed. You're just ensconced in plastic!

To pay the driver you stick your hand through that little slot and physically place your coins in his palm. Sure every one is wearing a mask but money is still literally changing hands. I guess that's why this driver wore gloves.

Every jeepney requires all riders to wear a face mask and some even have bottles of alcohol hanging from the ceiling for passenger's use. Here is what an empty new normal jeepney looks like:

Now if you haven't guessed the new normal for public transportation means partitioning the riders from each other and from the driver. Here is how the tricycles manage this partitioning:

I don't ride tricycles but I have a hunch they don't take cashless payments. You still have to hand the driver your money. Not all tricycles have installed a plastic divider in the back but most have.

The same partitioning is also seen in the new normal taxis.

What good is it to have the plastic installed if the entire driver's seat is not blocked off from the passenger seat? Why allow that little bit of space? Same goes for the front.

What's the point if the whole seat is not blocked off? 

So this is new normal as far as public transport goes. It's not too terrible. In the case of the jeepnies this forced limitation on passengers is a good thing. No more overcrowding!

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2017/05/tales-from-jeep.html

Why not allow this jeepney modification in Manila? It might make things a whole lot easier.

Lazy, Stupid Guard Blames Man He Wronged

One recent afternoon I took a taxi to visit a friend. The driver had to fork over his license to the guard in order to enter and was given a numbered card in return.

The driver waited while I was inside. Half an hour almost passed before we all left together. At the guardhouse the guard returned the license but it was not the right one. Turns out he had given it away to some other driver.

"What'd you do that for?", said the taxi driver.

"Well it's your fault. You stayed too long," was the actual reply from the guard. Unbelievable. This lazy guard, not paying attention to what he is doing, blames his mistake on the very man he has wronged! 

How stupid do you have to be to mess this up? You take the ID, put it a number slot, give the driver a numbered card for the slot it's in, the driver returns and you exchange the cards. Pretty simple. Oh and don't forget to visibly check the license with the driver to see if the face matches.

And this is not even an upscale gated neighbourhood. It's more like midlevel. The houses are all conjoined and who knows but it probably smells like burning trash often enough to make you hack and choke.

So now this driver is without a license.  I saw the back of the license he was mistakenly given as he was holding it and it was a Grab driver's ID. How many gated communities will the Grab driver be in and out of surrendering his ID before he realises it's not his? By then he will have forgotten where he lost his ID. This taxi driver's licence is gone and all because of some stupid, lazy guard who thinks he is doing a big important job protecting the gate.

Don't worry though. The poor guy got his license back the next day.

Driving with the hood open

This is one of the most bizarre driving habits I have seen anywhere.  And not just bizarre but plain dumb, if the reasoning behind it is what I suspect it is.

All of these taxis are driving with the hood open. 

Why?  What possible reason could there be to drive with the hood ajar? I can only think of one: to cool the engine!

Seriously can there be any other explanation? They have the hood just slightly ajar. Just popped open so air can breeze through the engine and cool it. 

Are they having that much trouble overheating?  Then there is a radiator problem that needs to be fixed immediately. Do they think it's preventative? Well that's what the radiator is for, to prevent overheating. 

Of course it could be that the hood is just broken. If so that's a problem which needs to be repaired. But it's also highly unlikely because I have seen so many taxis driving like this. The odds that all of them are afflicted with the same hood problem are not very high.

So we have jeepnies driving with Christmas lights rather than using their headlights and taxis driving with the hood open to keep the engine cool.

What's next? Stay tuned!

P.S.  I wrote the above post on March 16th.  Today, March 20th, I was riding in a taxi and I asked the driver if he ever drove with the hood just slightly open.  He said yes he did to prevent the engine from overheating.