Philippine Transportation: its Types and A Commuter's Frustration Part 1

credits to the owner

Manila is legendary for its major traffic situation. 

I could honestly say that even on weekends you could raise the middle finger if its really bothering you.

I have been a commuter almost all my life. I have actually managed to even calculate my traveling time in a certain day of the week! 

There are many types of public utility transportation you can use to get around the metro. I will just tell you 2 of the major types of transportation for now.

credits to the owner

Lets start with the Public Bus. There are 2 forms of that - The AC (air con) or the Ordinary (no aircon). 

In terms of names there are lots I can give you to choose from. If you want a little comfort and also you are not so much in a hurry, you can go for the AC bus. 

One thing about AC buses that I like is they provide entertainment while you are on the road. Some AC buses would feature a movie or local television shows. 

The downside though is the fare. Most probably there will be like a 3 to 5 php difference. But that is mainly because you have AC. 

The other form of the public bus is the ordinary bus. 

Most of these buses are a little reckless on the road if you ask me. But they do that because they want to reach their boundary immediately, or they are just hungry for some action with other buses LOL. Ordinary buses is more common and I would opt for when I want to get home early. These buses don't have AC so I suggest you hold on to your precious hair and life. Some ordinary buses have entertainment too. Mostly it would just be radio playing some music from Love FM.

Price wise, its pretty cheap. From my office to a block away from my house is just 10 php. The downside is that most ordinary buses are cramped and sometimes these buses are reckless, you have to hold on tightly so you won't get hurt. I've gotten some bruises before riding these and IT HURTS.

 

Besides from buses, there are also trains which are MRT, LRT and LRT2. MRT mainly runs along EDSA which is the main road here in Manila. LRT is within Manila and its other districts while LRT 2 runs from Manila, San Juan, Quezon City, Marikina and Pasig area. Out of the three railways, I am a frequent rider of the MRT. 

MRT or Metro Rail Transit runs through the major districts of the metro. It has 13 stations in total. 3 of its main stations are: Cubao, Ayala and Taft Station. The travel time in MRT has actually cut in half if you ask me. My usual travel time when I ride the MRT is between 15 to 30 minutes tops compared when I would ride a bus. Its also much cheaper to buy a SVC or store value card because there is a specific amount stated in the card and even if the card just have 1 peso, you can still ride the MRT. The downside though is it gets a little crowded at times, Usually on rush hours. 

When riding the MRT, patience is your partner to get over this. I have seen women slapping each other because they were just pushed. My 2 cents for this? Well just shut up and don't complain ladies! haha!

Much like the MRT, The LRT and LRT2 both cuts your travel time in half.

The LRT runs from Monumento to Baclaran Taft station. This basically is the train you can use if you want to go to some of the most important places in Manila.

LRT 3 on the other hand goes between 5 cities: Manila, San Juan, Pasig, Marikina and Quezon City. LRT 3 is actually the train that most students within the University Belt ride to go to school.

That is it for this blog post for today. I hope I didn't bore you with all the information I got.

Credits by the way to wikipedia.org for some information about the MRT and LRT.

I'll be back for the part 2 post of this so watch out!

Much Love!

-- Alice