As if driving on busy roads of Metro Manila were not a huge task enough, take a “jeepney” and watch a its driver maneuver the thoroughfares. He must multi-task. He must watch where he is going and how because fellow jeepney drivers are every which way competing for passengers along the road and at every street corner. Top that with tall, long public buses, cars, pedicabs, motorbikes/bikes, delivery trucks of sorts, and taxis jamming the paths. Inside a jeepney, the driver must not only tune out the honking transport around, but he must also listen keenly to passengers telling him where they’re going as they pay fares. He must quickly think how much to charge, get his left or right hand stir the wheel and masterfully get his other hand rummage through various coin and currency denominations so that he could give back to passengers their correct changes; passengers do not always pay with exact changes, you observe. He must mind passengers asking to stop at certain spots and places along the way. He must internalize all stopping points of passengers so that he does not get screamed at for not appropriately delivering them to their destinations. He must bear from time to time, screaming babies and children on laps of their parents who are cantankerously admonishing them to behave or to be quiet. Add to all those goings and comings the noise of running engines and the terrible heat brought by sweltering hot weather or messy, miserable rainy weather. I would never take a jeepney driver’s job! I am, however, thankful and appreciative of their resilience and determination to earn a living and to help their fellow folks go about and around.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Backbones: Jeepney Driver
64 ...
As if driving on busy roads of Metro Manila were not a huge task enough, take a “jeepney” and watch a its driver maneuver the thoroughfares. He must multi-task. He must watch where he is going and how because fellow jeepney drivers are every which way competing for passengers along the road and at every street corner. Top that with tall, long public buses, cars, pedicabs, motorbikes/bikes, delivery trucks of sorts, and taxis jamming the paths. Inside a jeepney, the driver must not only tune out the honking transport around, but he must also listen keenly to passengers telling him where they’re going as they pay fares. He must quickly think how much to charge, get his left or right hand stir the wheel and masterfully get his other hand rummage through various coin and currency denominations so that he could give back to passengers their correct changes; passengers do not always pay with exact changes, you observe. He must mind passengers asking to stop at certain spots and places along the way. He must internalize all stopping points of passengers so that he does not get screamed at for not appropriately delivering them to their destinations. He must bear from time to time, screaming babies and children on laps of their parents who are cantankerously admonishing them to behave or to be quiet. Add to all those goings and comings the noise of running engines and the terrible heat brought by sweltering hot weather or messy, miserable rainy weather. I would never take a jeepney driver’s job! I am, however, thankful and appreciative of their resilience and determination to earn a living and to help their fellow folks go about and around.
As if driving on busy roads of Metro Manila were not a huge task enough, take a “jeepney” and watch a its driver maneuver the thoroughfares. He must multi-task. He must watch where he is going and how because fellow jeepney drivers are every which way competing for passengers along the road and at every street corner. Top that with tall, long public buses, cars, pedicabs, motorbikes/bikes, delivery trucks of sorts, and taxis jamming the paths. Inside a jeepney, the driver must not only tune out the honking transport around, but he must also listen keenly to passengers telling him where they’re going as they pay fares. He must quickly think how much to charge, get his left or right hand stir the wheel and masterfully get his other hand rummage through various coin and currency denominations so that he could give back to passengers their correct changes; passengers do not always pay with exact changes, you observe. He must mind passengers asking to stop at certain spots and places along the way. He must internalize all stopping points of passengers so that he does not get screamed at for not appropriately delivering them to their destinations. He must bear from time to time, screaming babies and children on laps of their parents who are cantankerously admonishing them to behave or to be quiet. Add to all those goings and comings the noise of running engines and the terrible heat brought by sweltering hot weather or messy, miserable rainy weather. I would never take a jeepney driver’s job! I am, however, thankful and appreciative of their resilience and determination to earn a living and to help their fellow folks go about and around.
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