Looming phaseout

That the Palace issued a suspension of classes and work in government offices nationwide to spare the riding public of the inconvenience of being stranded in the streets for yesterday’s transport strike should tell something about the state of mass transport in the country.

We hope transport networks like Uber, Grab and U-Hop managed to bring those stranded commuters home since, owing to the rainy season, taxi drivers may prefer to stay home rather than work, at least for a day.

Here in Cebu, the number of drivers allied with the militant transport group Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operaytor Nationwide (Piston) is smaller than the Cebu-based transport groups who are generally moderate and won’t join any transport strike until they signified their intention to do so.

At any rate, count on the local governments to provide the buses and the vehicles to fetch stranded commuters who are usually minimum-wage earners who had to work to avoid a pay cut.

Those who own cars are usually Uber and Grab drivers who are expected to earn something extra today, but as to whether they encountered any hostility from jeepney drivers who joined yesterday’s transport strike to protest anew the phaseout of their aging units is yet to be known as of this writing.

For they are the reason why yesterday’s transport strike was supposed to be subdued, yet there is no lack in complaints from passenger jeepney operators who are seeing for themselves how their livelihood is slowly being eaten away by better transport alternatives.

The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, which will soon be implemented in Cebu City and is being considered in traffic-plagued Manila, is one such alternative, and it will reduce quite a number of jeepneys into servicing feeder routes that will help decongest traffic.

Given that possibility, why buy better units when the routes are limited for them, these operators may ask. To which one can say that they can answer their own questions or maybe let the riding public answer it for them.

And the answer lies in the simple incontrovertible fact that the riding public not only deserves a better mass transport option but is actually paying for it through their taxes and the fares they pay to every jeepney, taxi and train operator for years now.

If these jeepney operators haven’t understood that by now, then by all means let them continue to hold their transport strike and see for themselves as public sentiment continues to rise against them with each protest they stage.

Already, they sought an P8 fare rate increase which, as one transport operator said, may go in part to paying for their new units since they perceive that the phaseout will continue whether they want it or not.

If fares do go up whether commuters want to or not, shouldn’t jeepney operators at least fix their units to make it more comfortable for passengers? The riding public deserves better.