The utter unpreparedness of drivers of public utility vehicles to deliver quality service when the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system sees the light of day is a blind spot that the Cebu city government leaders can’t ignore.
Unless there’s a better idea, the BRT system will have to source manpower from the current crop of jeepney drivers even if several units will be phased out.
Will traveling be any better with a new system in place with the same old drivers at the wheel?
Picture many of today’s jeepney drivers.
They are notorious for shortchanging passengers by collecting P8 instead of P7.50 as minimum fare, and mostly ignore the 20-percent fare discount for students and the elderly.
An automated ticketing system might stop dishonest would-be bus drivers, but those who choose to remain jeepney drivers in the BRT era will still go scot-free.
Will tomorrow’s bus drivers observe rules against overloading?
Today drivers and their conductors think nothing of cramming a dozen passengers into a row of seats regardless of their body size or weight.
At mall terminals, PUJ drivers have an unwritten rule: The next jeepney to go will not open to passengers until the preceding vehicle is overloaded.
Pity the last person to board. He is forced to sit with his rear end hanging in the the air or the edge of a seat.
If the passenger complains, the driver just shouts him down. How often do passengers slip and fall because the PUJ revs up and goes even before a commuter is safely seated inside?
It’s a dictatorship of overloading by PUJ drivers and dispatchers.
This space does not suffice for a litany of traffic violations of jeepney drivers.
We suggest that transport officials and drivers themselves take a PUJ and experience this for themselves, including inhaling the fumes of men at the wheel who enjoy their cigarettes on the road despite posting “no smoking” stickers in the vehicles.
PUJ operators and drivers went on strike for one day in June to complain of tougher penalties for traffic violations.
Who’s at the losing end of traffic rules that go ignored and when violations are treated with impunity?
Reality check.
Abusive drivers should not expect the sympathy of the long-suffering riding public.
Having a BRT with undisciplined drivers in the public transport system would just be transport havoc version 2.0.