Growing Pains

Thanks to improvements in nutrition,health and parental care that our parents have provided us through these years. The average Filipino size have increased, albeit many horizontally rather than vertically. Unfortunately, our public transport system (hello, calling the Department of Transportation and Communication) have not kept pace with such development.

Using my self as gauge, standing 5 '10"inches and weighing proportionately, I could say I belong to the bigger 20 percentile of Filipinos. Yet, our public transport system, the jeepneys, tricycles and even planes, still thinks that our sizes are highly compressible, able to fit 20 for jeepneys designed for 16 passengers, tricycles designed for 3 to fit 7. Mind you, I am only talking about the seating capacity. If we include those "on-hangers, clingers, and roof seaters", then we see records of the "guiness book of records" challenged everytime.

Let us take the more sophisticated transport mode, the plane. The number of rows have been added to ensure that you are snuggly seated (for those whose height is 5'4" inches and below), "knees-touch your chin" seating style for those between 5'5" and 6'1" and those taller than 6'1", you will end up half standing but be warned for a chastise by those cute stewardesses to seat properly. My advice to those tall people is to take up yoga classes and for those very very tall ones, learn to become a contortionist before you even attempt to ride Cebu Pacific!

Why can't the government enforce a comfortable, safe standards for the public transport system? Is it because we promote private transport system and contribute more to global warming? Is it because we promote a business model that maximizes profits and punish the consumers? Operators often use declining profits as reason. Perhaps, we neeed to take a closer look at how these jeepneys and tricycles operate and remove all those "added cost". I take the jeepney regularly and everywhere you find jeepney drivers paying a toll to different barangays along the way. These are plain extortion and is no different from traffic enforcer mulcting drivers.

In many cities in the country, LTFRB has allowed those bonzai jeepneys (multi-cabs)taking as many passengers as a regular jeepney to proliferate. It may be comforting to those "maniacal" passengers to place their knees in the inner thighs to the discomfort of those seated on the opposite side.

As consumer, I am sure that I am willing to pay more comfort and safety.