Saturday, December 19, 2009

Tricycle Situation at Better Living




I was on my way to SM Bicutan late this afternoon. We have a tricycle terminal near our street so hitchin a ride is never actually a problem even though we're already near the border of Better Living and Sucat. I practically lived my entire life in this neighborhood and I've seen how this small community rose from grassy fields to a highly urbanized neighborhood. I've also witnessed how it decayed due to the increasing number of people.

Anyhow, the line was long and there were only a handful of tricycles visible but since it's almost rush hour, I understand that traffic is really terrible this time of day plus the fact that it's just a week before Christmas. The line is getting longer and longer by the minute but there's still no tricycles going out to SM -Bicutan terminal. The dispatcher who seem to be in control of the situation kept prioritizing special trips. I patiently waited in that slow moving line but there's one thing that the dispatcher said that made my ears ring. She said " O yung mga lalabas ng SM sumakay na lang kayo ng hanggang France st. (Corner of BDO). Mas maraming tricycle dun palabas ng SM." For those of you who are clueless what that meant, it only means that those f*ckin tricycle drivers are cutting their trips short. Their reason? Traffic. It also means that you have to ride a tryk twice just to get to SM - Bicutan, which in normal circumstances will only take you one. This also means that your fare will be doubled.

I almost lost it back there. I just couldn't grasp the concept of why they have to do this since the ordinary route should take passengers all the way to SM - Bicutan. Traffic is not a reason cause there's traffic everywhere. Gang dang these abusive drivers. This is not the only concern here. If you live in the subdivision and you commute everyday you're probably aware that these bastards are taking two special trip passengers in one trip.

What I don't get is that, passengers tolerate this way of life by accepting to ride with another passenger on a special trip, then will later on complain. "reklamo ng reklamo pero tuloy pa din ang pagsakay." Hay... We're all in a hurry whether to or from our destinations ladies and gentlemen but let's not allow these criminals take advantage of this fact. The typical structure of a tricycle here in our area is built in such a way that the tricycle could carry up to 8 passengers at once. So if you're to take a special trip you're supposed to be the only passenger and you should be droped off at your designated destination. Let's just say that one special trip will cost you 35 pesos. That's an instant 70 pesos for that A-hole driver for a single trip. And they complain that life is hard? C'mmon?! Sometimes it's not about the money. Yes, we can afford it but this only means we are condoning the act. Yes it is polite to share a seat to win a friend as long as it's free.

I heard a great suggestion one time that since Better Living is already a highly populated area, why not utilize jeepneys instead of tricycles on major roads like Dona Soledad and use the tricycles on smaller roads that branch out. This is actually a great idea since a jeepney could carry more passengers for a lot less. I know that a lot of families will grow hungry with this idea but since this kind of Bull Sh*t system has been going on for quite sometime now, I think it's safe to assume that these drivers have already earned more than enough for their retirement fund.

Just a thought... I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only and first one who noticed this. I can't help but wonder, Nasan ang Aksyon? If we can't stop corruption in such a small and confined environment like the community how else can we expect to stop it nationally?


Photo taken from Google Image Bank

No comments:

Post a Comment