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    #1
    Drivers, passengers say something’s very wrong with LPG-fueled taxis
    By Pocholo Concepcion
    Philippine Daily Inquirer
    1:56 am | Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

    (First of a series)

    Alexander de la Rosa started driving taxis for a living in 1983. At age 48, he says he’s healthy and doesn’t drink alcohol. “I smoke cigarettes, but not a lot.”

    Two years ago, he switched to driving a taxi that used LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) as fuel because it was a lot cheaper than regular gasoline. It was an experience, he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, that landed him in the hospital.

    Alfonso Tatad has been a cab driver since 1965. He says he doesn’t have any vice. At 67, he looks trim and fit—except that he seems to be catching his breath while talking.

    “I got asthma because of driving an LPG taxi,” he says, showing an antiasthma inhaler.

    Francis Barro used to drive an LPG taxi but quit after he noticed his throat always felt dry, his skin began to look rough, he had headaches and always was extremely exhausted. He was also losing weight.

    Rolando Tamundo, 34, drove an LPG taxi for a year in 2008. Like the other drivers, he says he often felt his lips and throat going dry and he had to drink lots of water while driving. Then he started losing weight.

    Once, when he caught the flu, he consulted a doctor. “The doctor advised me to stay away from vices … because I’m a smoker … and if it’s possible to stop driving an LPG taxi,” he said.

    Putrid smell

    These drivers are among many who say driving LPG-fueled taxis is harmful to one’s health.

    This reporter rides a taxi to work daily. Last year, while aboard an old cab, called the “Toyota big body,” a putrid aroma assaulted my nose.

    “What’s that smell?” I asked the driver, worried for my wife and our 2-year-old baby with us. “Is that LPG?”

    The driver nonchalantly replied: “Wala ’yon. (Don’t mind it).”

    Days later, while riding a later model cab—commonly referred to as the “Toyota new look”—the driver admitted that the unit was using LPG for fuel. There was no bothersome odor inside, but a few seconds after getting off, we coughed so hard we almost puked.

    Every single day since then, the two things we ask drivers after getting into a cab are, “Have you driven an LPG taxi; and how was your experience?”

    Common experience

    The majority of the drivers interviewed by the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported having gone through these conditions: Dryness of throat, dizziness, headache, loss of appetite, an unusual fatigue that is “different from being tired.”

    Health authorities and doctors could offer no medical explanation for the drivers’ woes, or if these were caused by the LPG gas fuel.

    One driver, who usually starts at 6 a.m., says he felt so sleepy after only three hours that he had to pull over and take a nap. On waking up after a few minutes, he says, he felt disoriented, “like I didn’t know where I was.”

    Barro says that before he drove an LPG taxi, he still found time to play chess while having coffee at home after working for 24 hours. “But it’s different with an LPG taxi. I drift off to sleep while sitting down with my coffee.”

    De la Rosa remembers three incidents while driving an LPG-fueled Toyota 1997 model taxi in September 2009. In the first few weeks, he says, he had difficulty breathing.

    In March last year, he went down with the flu and couldn’t breathe properly. He says he wasn’t asthmatic and that it was his first time to feel that way.

    Four months later, he had an asthma attack and was rushed to East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City. “All my life, that was only my first time to be hospitalized,” he says.

    Asked what his job was, De la Rosa told the doctor he was a cab driver. The doctor didn’t say a word and prescribed only vitamins.

    Allergic reaction?

    He went back to driving the same LPG taxi until November last year, when he got bedridden for two weeks after a third asthma attack coupled with the flu. A month later he decided to quit driving the LPG cab. He now drives a taxi which uses regular gas, and says his asthma symptoms have also stopped.

    Tatad says he had difficulty breathing when he was at the wheel of the LPG taxi, which he drove for two years starting in 2007. “I also couldn’t understand why my head and body felt like these were inflated.”

    He was at home on his day off when he felt the same symptoms, lost consciousness and was rushed to Rizal Medical Center in Pasig City. The doctor, he says, told him that he almost had a stroke and that he developed an allergic reaction to the LPG.

    Tatad has since been driving a diesel-fueled taxi, but he still has asthma.

    Barro says he got worried after the headaches and fatigue did not go away. He saw a doctor, who didn’t prescribe anything, but advised him to quit driving the LPG taxi and to see him again if his condition did not improve.

    “I stopped driving the LPG taxi. After two weeks my condition improved,” he says.

    Other drivers reveal that they had passengers, who turned out to be doctors and who warned them to stay away from LPG taxis if they wanted to stay healthy.

    One woman doctor, says one driver reportedly told him that a lot of taxi drivers have sought treatment at the Lung Center in Quezon City where she’s based.

    Barro relates that a doctor passenger explained to him why drivers, and passengers as well, were vulnerable to inhaling LPG fumes.

    “The LPG fumes come from the carburetor and pass through the air-condition duct,” he says.

    “You do not notice it because it goes through the evaporator, but the coolness from the air-conditioning unit is different, like it has a chemical coming from the LPG tank. That’s what the driver and passenger inhale inside the taxi,” Barro says.

    “If it’s really good, why don’t they build car engines designed for LPG?”

    “Sometimes I ask, did the decision to allow the use of LPG in taxis go through the proper procedure … Why was it approved when there seemed to be no study on its effects on people?”

    Tamundo believes the problem with LPG taxis starts when there’s a leak in the hoses that connects the LPG tank to the car engine. The leak, he explains, is difficult to trace, and takes close monitoring and regular maintenance checkups by qualified mechanics.

    He now drives a cab that uses diesel fuel. He said there’s no difference at all between the fuel expense, “boundary” and his take-home pay from an LPG and diesel taxi: Both consume P1,300 worth of fuel; the “boundary” is P1,500; and the take-home pay is P1,000 for a 24-hour shift.

    Substandard conversion

    A number of taxi drivers claim that, while the Arroyo administration may have had good intentions in allowing the use of LPG for taxicabs in Metro Manila, something went wrong along the way.

    The drivers cite a Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) requirement as a crucial factor that spawned unexpected problems for taxis. Four years ago, at the height of the successive oil price hikes, the LTFRB granted a three-year extension to old taxicabs—provided they converted to LPG.

    As a result, the drivers say, a lot of fly-by-night LPG conversion shops sprouted, charging much lower rates. The substandard quality of the work in these shops, the drivers pointed out, could be the cause of the leaks in LPG taxis.

    Taxi operators are said to have been aware of the increasing number of drivers getting sick while driving LPG taxis.

    Joli Malaki was one of 10 drivers of Basic Taxi who were asked by its operator, Quezon City Councilor Bong Suntay, to undergo a medical checkup at East Avenue Medical Center. “Order daw ng DOH (Department of Health),” says Malaki.

    Drawbacks

    However, Malaki adds that he never saw the results of the medical exam. He likewise notes that Suntay—who is said to also own Clean Fuel, one of the largest chain of LPG stations in Metro Manila—only wanted “healthy” drivers to have the medical tests.

    At that time, Malaki had been worried because he was already experiencing dryness of throat and unbearable fatigue while driving an LPG taxi unit for Basic. He has since transferred to a regular gas taxicab.

    De la Rosa says that a suggestion from the government for passenger jeepneys to convert to LPG is ridiculous. Taxi operators, he claims, are already aware of the downside of using LPG fuel for cabs. Many taxi units, especially the Toyota Vios models, reportedly break down often. He says engine overheating results from LPG gas.

    Another drawback, he points out, is that an LPG taxi travels only eight kilometers per kilogram of the fuel. The driver or maintenance guy has to clean the taxi’s engine parts every week, otherwise it would consume more LPG, he explains.

    ..............................................

  2. Join Date
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    #2
    Fleet reconverts

    The entire fleet of TAI (Toyota Alabang Inc.) Taxi is in the process of reconverting back to regular gasoline after encountering engine troubles with LPG. “Car engines are prone to breaking down when using LPG fuel,” said one driver.

    Noel Bautista, 56, operates a fleet of eight taxi units. In 2008 he had one of the units converted to run on LPG fuel, after hearing about its “benefits.”

    “It’s said to be really economical,” he told the Inquirer.

    He tried driving it himself. But it took him only two weeks to conclude that it’s a health hazard. “I felt my neck was always dry and stuck with some chemical. I was always thirsty. I get dizzy when getting off the taxi),” he says.

    Maintenance cumbersome

    After hearing about friends in other taxi companies getting sick—and at least six of them dying—while driving LPG cabs, Bautista says he did his own research. He says the leak could be a result of inadequate teflon thread in the LPG tank nob or overheating of the carburetor.

    He points out that taxi drivers who work 24 hours a day can get immune to the smell and not notice it at all. He recalls a taxi driver friend who lit a cigarette inside the cab, unaware that LPG fumes had been circulating around him: “The taxi caught fire and his scalp was torn off. He’s alive, but for a long time he had to sleep sitting down.”

    LPG taxis require weekly checkups and painstaking effort from mechanics to spot possible leaks, says Bautista. Maintenance proved too cumbersome that he had his taxi unit reconverted back to regular gas.

    In the process, he also removed a potential health hazard for his drivers.
    SOURCE: Drivers, passengers say something

  3. Join Date
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    21,667
    #3
    ganyan din yung experience ko with the stories of the taxi drivers re: lpg fuel

    kaya yung iba nag-switch back sa pagddrive ng fuel-fed, ok lang daw na mas mahal atleast mas kampante daw sila.

  4. Join Date
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    #4
    nabasa ko nga kanina yan sa inquirer...any truth to this?

  5. Join Date
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    #5
    madalas nga na reklamo yan ng mga taxi drivers.

    parang naaamoy talaga yung lpg e. siguro dahil na rin sa kalumaan ng mga taxi may mga leak na.

  6. Join Date
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    #6
    Quote Originally Posted by shadow View Post
    nabasa ko nga kanina yan sa inquirer...any truth to this?
    Wait for the next article in the series...

    My friend in INQUIRER told me to wait for the continuation tomorrow and on Nov 4 and Nov 5.

    So for the meantime, lets just take it with a bucket of popcorn.

  7. Join Date
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    #7
    Quote Originally Posted by shadow View Post
    nabasa ko nga kanina yan sa inquirer...any truth to this?
    If you're using a shoddy LPG kit in an equally shoddy taxicab, yes. But that is beside the point as the problem is not LPG per se but in the maintenance of the vehicles it is used in and the quality of the LPG kits they have. Garbage in, garbage out.

    Its been pointed out previously that in Australia, Thailand, HK and Europe, LPG fuel is in wide use on public transport even before it saw the light of day in the Philippines.

    Quote Originally Posted by ghosthunter View Post
    Wait for the next article in the series...

    My friend in INQUIRER told me to wait for the continuation tomorrow and on Nov 4 and Nov 5.

    So for the meantime, lets just take it with a bucket of popcorn.
    :popcorn:

    Wala bang wikileaks yan? :D

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    #8
    [SIZE=4]WHAT WENT BEFORE: LPG as automotive fuel[/SIZE]
    Philippine Daily Inquirer
    3:58 am | Thursday, November 3rd, 2011


    The wide use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as automotive fuel in the country was promoted for its environmental benefits as early as 2002, three years after the passage of the Clean Air Act.

    In a position paper that year, the Philippine Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association Inc. noted that LPG has lesser greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide that contribute to global warming compared to gasoline and diesel.

    The umbrella organization for LPG industry players also added that LPG readily dissipates in the air, so it does not adversely affect soil and water in case of leakage unlike gasoline and alternative fuels such as ethanol or methanol, which is not soluble in water.

    The association cited the use of LPG in more than 4 million vehicles in over 40 countries, consuming 10 million tons a year. Galloping oil prices prompted the shift, along with environmental concerns.

    In 2005, The Department of Energy (DOE) revealed it was working on a policy framework to regulate the different components of an autogas program implementation, including safety regulation.

    18,731 taxis on LPG

    In 2008, with about 7,000 vehicles running on LPG, the Arroyo administration launched a P1-billion engine program to help owners of jeepneys, buses and taxis convert their diesel- or gasoline-fed engines into ones that would run on much cheaper and environment-friendly fuels like LPG and compressed natural gas.

    Then Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza noted that it would cost P70,000 to convert a vehicle to 30-percent LPG use and P250,000 for 100-percent LPG conversion. For a jeepney converting into 30-percent LPG use, this would mean an additional P220 savings a day for an owner or driver, he added.

    By the end of 2008, the DOE noted there were 14,000 taxis operating in key cities nationwide, as well as 132 retail dispensing stations.

    As of March 2011, there were more than 18,731 registered taxis running on LPG in the country, according to the DOE. Inquirer Research
    SOURCE: WHAT WENT BEFORE: LPG as automotive fuel | Inquirer News

  9. Join Date
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    #9
    [size=5]LPG taxis’ ‘ailing’ tales ‘anecdotal, unscientific’[/size]
    By TJ Burgonio
    Philippine Daily Inquirer
    2:27 am | Sunday, November 6th, 2011


    [size=2]A taxi driver has his LPG tank filled up in a fuel station bay along EDSA, Cubao, Quezon City. INQUIRER file photo[/size]

    (Last of a series)

    Even the Rolls Royce of England’s Queen Elizabeth is fitted with an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) conversion kit.

    Or so the LPG conversion industry leaders claim as they protest against what they say are the “unscientifically proven” claims of cab drivers and passengers concerning the allegedly harmful effects of LPG.

    Against these unscientific claims are the proven beneficial effects to the environment of LPG fuel, which the governments of Hong Kong, South Korea and other countries have realized as they have mandated its use for public transport, the industry players said.

    No scientific or medical basis

    Cielo Fregil, managing director of Global Ambient Hi-Technology Systems, said she was “very unhappy” with the Philippine Daily Inquirer special report containing “anecdotal stories” from cab drivers claiming to have suffered asthma attacks or weight loss from LPG inhalation, which she said had no scientific or medical basis.

    Fregil is engaged in the LPG conversion business. She has converted more than 10,000 taxi cabs to date, and has been driving an LPG-powered car for the past six years. She said neither she nor the cab drivers [in a sister car-leasing company] have fallen ill from years of driving an LPG-run car.

    18,731 converted cabs

    “If your story was true, all 36,000 drivers of the 18,731 taxicabs that we have converted would have sickened and [the Department of Health] would have raised an alarm,” Fregil said.

    Quezon City Councilor Bong Suntay, who operates the Basic Taxi fleet and is said to own Clean Fuel (one of the largest chains of LPG stations in Metro Manila), made the same observation.

    “All my taxis have been converted to LPG. I have been using LPG since 2003, and none of my drivers ever raised health concerns nor have I had a driver who became sick because of driving an LPG vehicle. The vehicle that I use to bring me to work and around town also runs using LPG and I have never experienced any of the effects that the article mentioned,” he said.

    Fregil claimed that LPG was “nontoxic” when inhaled and that even the DOH, which did a study on its suspected harmful effects, found that it did not cause respiratory ailments.

    “The LPG being used in a car is the same LPG being used in your kitchen. There are neither cooks nor chefs in the restaurant and industrial applications complaining about the harmful effects of LPG,” she said.

    Suntay agreed: “It’s obvious the article was an attack on [Transportation] Secretary Mar Roxas’ decision supporting the conversion of jeepneys to LPG. It’s as simple as this: Has your cook become sick from using LPG?”

    The Inquirer series, besides quoting the claims of the complaining cab drivers and automotive experts, also carried interviews with DOH and health experts who said that the stories of drivers falling ill from LPG exposure were mere “theories” in the absence of scientific evidence.

    Without proper study, it would be reckless to blame LPG for the respiratory ailments of drivers who are exposed to a variety of other unhealthy conditions, the DOH officials said.

    Extensive use

    Fregil said she has done a lot of research in LPG conversion for the past eight years, and was convinced about its benefits to the environment.

    “Converting cars to run on LPG has been proven to be beneficial to the environment, giving us 90-percent less solid particulate per million (SPM) and almost 80 to 90-percent less carbon emission that contributes to global warming,” she said.

    She said Hong Kong and Korea had mandated all public transport to run on LPG 10 to 15 years ago. The two governments sent resource speakers to talk about their success with LPG at the LPG summit in Manila last August, she said.

    Suntay said auto LPG is also extensively used in Japan, the United States, Italy, Hong Kong, China, India, Turkey, United Kingdom, Thailand, Malaysia, Poland and Australia.

    “Most, if not all of these countries, have been very strict in their environmental protection laws, but still they encourage LPG use and conversion. In fact, Australia even gives a subsidy for converting to LPG,” he said.

    Environmental benefits

    Fregil said that the conversion kits, which her company imports from Italy, follow the “highest safety standards” in the world, and are used “without shortcuts.”

    “Tartarini is a brand that I carry. Even the Queen of England’s Rolls Royce is fitted with a Tartarini LPG conversion kit for environmental reasons,” she said.

    She claims have never experienced any unhappy client complaining about sickness, dry throat and asthma and loss of weight.

    Fregil, however, agreed that there would be a problem if an LPG-run car “is not properly maintained.”

    Fly-by-night conversions

    She also conceded that there are “fly-by-night conversions that cause some leaks”.

    “Fumes, even on gasoline-powered cars, can get into the cabin, which would cause dizziness and sometimes nausea, if not properly maintained. LPG in its pure gas form is odorless and colorless, that’s why we put in an odorizer in order for us to know if there is a leak,” she said.

    She explained: “The LPG in the tank is in liquid form. If it leaks from the tank, it will form a froth with similar consistency as what you see in a fire extinguisher. This will not catch fire.”

    “LPG [takes on] gas form after the regulator is placed near the intake manifold (for fuel-injected cars) or near the carburetor (for carburetor cars). This is never connected to the aircon duct,” she said.

    Lifestyle ailments

    Fregil said the ailments of complaining cab drivers may also have to do with fatigue, food or smoking.

    “Imagine what kind of fatigue you experience driving almost 400 kilometers a day. This means that taxi drivers work almost 24 hours, except for taking occasional naps and taking a meal break, so they can maximize their profits. A person who works 24 hours in a day experiences fatigue from lack of sleep and rest,” she said.

    “Moreover the ‘not-so-healthy’ kind of food they consume during the day and the smoking, in the case of some drivers, contribute to their unhealthy condition,” she said.

    Fregil also asked why the cab drivers interviewed for the report, like Jo Malaki who quit after driving an LPG-converted cab for six years for Suntay’s Basic Taxi, came out publicly with his complaints only now. She said Basic has no record of Malaki complaining about getting sick from LPG.

    Fregil also scoffed at taxi driver Alexander de la Rosa’s comment that the government’s plan to convert jeepneys to LPG was ridiculous.

    “Has he ridden one of the LPG jeepneys done by David Motors and PAD Inc.? What proof does he have that you have to clean the engine weekly or it will consume more LPG. We do not do that to our vehicles. Why is it that in Hong Kong, where they have minibuses similar to our jeepneys which are powered by LPG, no harmful effects to its drivers and passengers have been reported?” she said.

    She said it was not true that the entire TAI Taxi had reconverted to regular gasoline, purportedly because of engine troubles with LPG. TAI Tax is still using LPG-converted vehicles in its fleet, she said.

    “You cannot just take the account of the driver irresponsibly saying the entire fleet is reconverting to gas because of engine trouble when this is totally false,” she said.

    ‘Absurd’

    Fregil dismissed as “absurd” operator Noel Bautista’s story about a driver-friend whose taxi supposedly caught fire and whose scalp was blown off after he lit a cigarette, because LPG had leaked inside the cab.

    There is no way anyone riding in an LPG-fueled car would not smell a leak, because of the odorizers that are installed, she said.

    “Moreover, LPG tanks have a safety feature that when a tremendous amount of leak is detected, the LPG kit shuts off and the car automatically shifts to gasoline,” she said.

    She said LPG conversions are made in a proper service shop where the tuning is done through a computer. Designated technicians visit taxi operators’ garages for proper tuning and maintenance, she said.

    “No taxi driver is qualified to run the computer program to tune them properly to efficiently run the LPG kit. Therefore, no taxi driver has the credibility to say that LPG ruins the engine of the cars,” Fregil said.

    SOURCE: LPG taxis

  10. Join Date
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    #10
    Fregil claimed that LPG was “nontoxic” when inhaled and that even the DOH, which did a study on its suspected harmful effects, found that it did not cause respiratory ailments.
    So, "non-toxic" pala ang LPG when inhaled? I'm not a doctor, but I think this is relative to a person who has an allergy on any type of gas. And frequent exposure to it is also not good. Can a doctor here confirm this?

    Fregil, however, agreed that there would be a problem if an LPG-run car “is not properly maintained.
    Most probably, the taxi drivers are trying to tamper the kit so to get save more on LPG consumption and eventually get more profit.

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