Life without cars

[Wh1stl3r2]

I'm sure most people here have at some point of their lives traveled to cities around the world and seen first hand how much better getting around is at most of those cities. I'm talking public transport like trains, buses, trams, ferries, etc. I'm sure you've also seen how much easier it is to bike or walk these cities.

After watching the feature on urban planning and traffic on tv last night, I've come to realize that I am tired. I work from home but still, I probably have around near half a million kms worth of travel driving by car. My driver all but quit this morning and I had to drive my wife to a meeting in Makati CBD. I keep wondering why road rage isn't as big a thing here compared to the US.

One of the solutions mentioned last night was carpooling or basically not bringing your car to work. Unless our new president borrows us into Marcos era level debt and overspends on infrastructure, all the proposed future projects seem like a dream or at least a decade away.

My question is, are you willing to give up your car to get to Metro Manila?

[screws]

no way... its a status symbol yo! only the poor take the jeepney like me. elites shouldnt be squeezing on a already crowded jeep with us.

[Juan Martinez]

no, i won't. i'm always on the go and i hop from one province to another. my car is sort of the extension of my home.

[EQAddict]

I don't mind not using a car some of the time. But i aint gonna give them up either.

And the hot and humid weather is also a hindrance. Not to mention our storms.....

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[anonemus]

My question is, are you willing to give up your car to get to Metro Manila?

Currently, it will take me 2-4 times longer to use public versus private transport when going around the Metro.

So for me it's not practical to give up my car here in Metro Manila.

[cast_no_shadow]

at the current state of our public mass transpo? (safety, efficiency etc)

risk and danger of getting robbed, mugged or killed.

NO

[ess]

at the current state of our public mass transpo? (safety, efficiency etc)

risk and danger of getting robbed, mugged or killed.

NO

Same here.

Only when we achieve a public transportation SYSTEM that matches the efficiency and security of that of Japan will I consider.

[niky]

Personally... I'm of two minds about it.

Over the years, I've driven perhaps a half-million kilometers or more. We have one car at 100k+, another at 180k, another at 250k and all our previous cars have hit 100-150k at one point or another.

Personally, if the place I'm going is near enough EDSA, I'd rather take the bus than drive myself. Because sleeping uncomfortably in a bus for two hours is less tiresome than sitting upright in a car for two hours. As long as I don't ride during rush hour. (I simply wait for the crowds to die down).

Only way I survived the courtship with my wife is by waiting for traffic to pass before going home from her place. Which meant sometimes going home at midnight or later, with some drunken old man sleeping on my shoulder or throwing up on my shoes in the bus, and a jeepney driver with more missing fingers than a Yakuza gangster driving the Jeep home...

-

[Ry_Tower]

No, i will not give up driving my car just because sometimes, driving is just so much fun than commuting. And the capacity to go drive as you wish is just too tempting.

[yebo]

magastos ang taxi. i take the taxi sometimes when parking is a problem. a trip that would normally cost me 1 liter of diesel and P45 in parking (total P75 or less) would cost me P150 in taxi fare. one way. add to that when you are in a rush you can't choose the taxi you ride on, kung ano unang dumating na walang sakay yun na. kahit bulok, kahit mabaho.

jeep, yep, i ride the jeep. kaya lang grabe sobrang bagal ng byahe. a 10 minute trip for me on my car will take the jeep 30 minutes. panay tigil, every corner it will stop to pick up or let off passengers. naghihintay pa. inalok ko na nga bayaran yung ibang upuan minsan ayaw naman tangapin ng driver. nainsulto pa daw siya. also i only ride on jeepneys during the day time during the off rush hours. rarely, very rarely and only for short trips, yung minimum fare lang ang pasahe.

city bus? i have not rid in one for a long long time. i am now somewhat afraid of riding a bus, even the air conditioned ones. na-holdap na ako before, tutok ice pick sa kidneys. naaah!

i tired a provincial bus last year. i missed the express sctex bus to gapo so i had to settle for the "express" one that exits nlex at san fernando. wow ang bagal. it took 4 hours to gapo, 15 minutes waiting at the station, then another 1-1/2 hours to my home town. total 5:45 hours! that trip normally just takes me 2-1/2 hours or less. going back i was able to get on the sctex express bus, but it still took 4 hours as the bus stops at mabalacat for a half hour! grrrr! yes i saved as the fare was less than half of what i would have spent on diesel and toll but the long travel time was not worth it.

MRT/LRT, pwede basta hindi rush hour. nasubukan ko pumila sa north avenue, grabe 1 hour bago ako naka-akyat. 6am yun ha. papunta kasi ako ng embassy sa makati at ang alam ko problema ang parking pero hindi naman pala, dami pala parking dun. so nung bumalik ako to get my passport nag-car na ako. but i do i take the LRT1 kung sa around avenida ako pupunta, lalo na kung sa raon or sta cruz area. pero pag around china town or tutuban mall, car ako.

so yes and NO. lamang ang NO.

[KenGarcia]

I grew up commuting because my family is not inclined to cars and owning one is pricey. Ako lang yata sa family namin may hilig sa kotse. Given the fact that our public transpo is horrendous, I promise myself that I will buy my own car in the near future.

Imagine commuting in a sunny afternoon. Siyaman yung jeep, kahit 8 lang ang kasya due to different body types ng nakasakay ipipilit padin ng barker na maging siyaman. Syempre wala namang electric fan ang jeep pwera nalang sa driver side. Yung malagkit, maalikabok at mainit na hangin lang habang bumabyahe ka ang papatid sa init ng panahon. Ang hirap sobra kasi pawisin pa ako.

My question is, are you willing to give up your car to get to Metro Manila?

Definitely, NO

[cast_no_shadow]

Actually carpool is practiced here in our office, sulit yung mga employees na van ang dala and dami colleagues who live nearby his area or along his route na dadaanan going to work.

Nabawasan na mga nagdadala ng oto sa office, nakatipid pa yung employee who leave their cars at home, nakatulong din dun sa van owner since bawi na yung fuel, meal expenses for the day may konting kita pa! win-win talaga.

Sadly walang nag ooffer na malapit samin, wala din ako maalok na maisabay.

Will not work for me too since mahirap sa carpool hindi mo hawak oras mo since a lot is depending sayo papasok at pauwi.

Given a chance? I will leave my car too as long as meron ako masasabayan.

Anything makaiwas lang sa public transpo.


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[squeesix]

metro manila is seriously screwed because of the sheer number of vehicles - if only we had a metro tokyo rail system, or waaay better public transpo - only then would i even consider not using a car to/fm work.

minsan hassle na rin talaga mag-kotse. very different from 20, or even just 10 years ago.

[niky]

metro manila is seriously screwed because of the sheer number of vehicles - if only we had a metro tokyo rail system, or waaay better public transpo - only then would i even consider not using a car to/fm work.

minsan hassle na rin talaga mag-kotse. very different from 20, or even just 10 years ago.

Ten years ago, yes.

Around twenty... actually... time ni Ramos, di rin sulit magdala ng auto.

I still vividly recall the four-hour jams around Taft and EDSA at the time... traffic was so bad on Taft that my classmates would often park at La Salle and simply walk to UP. Yeah... that's several blocks.

I get your points, there's nothing easy about commuting either. How about carpooling then? Or something like a school bus for work. Or having telcos instead of face to face meetings. On my end, by working at home I can proudly say my contribution to MM traffic is minimal.

*Niky
We have almost the same driven mileage. Are most of yours in the Metro? I guess its not so much the mileage that's worn me down but the other drivers we share the road with. Wave after wave of retards (pardon the politically incorrect but effective term) clogging yellow boxes, beating the yellow light, counterflowing, swerving right at the exit and cutting into the queue has just made me hate city driving. I can proudly say I never do any of these things but I keep wondering if the other people who hate these shenanigans do them.

Whenever it comes to driving into the Metro I feel like post-accident Ricky Bobby right now.

I used to be that arsehole. Swerving, counterflowing, singit-singit... bahala na kung may magalit... learned my lesson though... when I started to pay attention to the safety of my passengers, I realized I HATED guys who drove like me... so I changed my ways.

My mileage is Laguna-Manila-QC. Nowadays, I only have to drive once or twice a week... the days when I have more than three trips a week are torture.

[Wh1stl3r2]

Now that I've had time to try and remember what traffic was like 5 or 10 years ago, it occurred to me that traffic has never really changed. It's worse today, for sure, but it's not like it was much better back then. I remember as a UP student at least one time we had to walk from Ateneo all the way to UP Campus because traffic had stopped moving, and this was possibly worse than the not-so-recent-but-cannot-be-forgotten event many come to know as carmaggedon. I remember I even had to pee in a bottle once.

Although efficient, safe and fast mass transport still seems like a distant dream, it feels good to read about all of your experiences, feelings and ideas on how to mitigate traffic. Tinatablan din naman pala kayo. Hehe.

[cast_no_shadow]

Yung immediate visor ko, taxi sa morning average niya daily is 400-450 one way. Sabi ko langya hindi ka pa nakakaupo sa opisina ang laki na ng nalagas sa wallet mo.

Kaya hindi ko masisi minsan pagdating ng opisina mainit na ulo, malayo nararating ng metro ng taxi sa traffic sa morning rush hour.

He brought a trailblazer last year kahit hindi marunong mag drive, wala din gamay mag drive sa kanila ayun lampas isang taon na nasa 3K pa lang ata tinakbo, lugi siya sa gastos sa PMS since sinunod niya which ever comes first.

Lagi ako paulit ulit sa kanya na, mag aral mag drive. Yung daily taxi expenses niya sobra pa sa ikakargang krudo kako.

For him he'd rather sit on a cab/bus while being stuck sa traffic kesa mastress magmaneho sa traffic sa metro.

Magkaiba pala tayo ng point of view kako.

i rest my case.

To each his own talaga.


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[papi smith]

So sa 450 x 2 way x 21 days/month = 18,900. Amortization pa lang yan, dagdagan mo pa ng gas, PMS, insurance at sakit ng ulo pag may bangga o flat tire. Dagdag mo pa car wash, waiting in line for parking at parking fee, pa rehistro every year Haaay, sarap mag taksi

[KenGarcia]

So sa 450 x 2 way x 21 days/month = 18,900. Amortization pa lang yan, dagdagan mo pa ng gas, PMS, insurance at sakit ng ulo pag may bangga o flat tire. Dagdag mo pa car wash, waiting in line for parking at parking fee, pa rehistro every year Haaay, sarap mag taksi

Kung may panggastos at afford naman mas pipiliin ko na to na kaysa makipag sapalaran na maholdap or sa kung ano mang masamang bagay na pwedeng maranasan sa pag cocommute.

[cast_no_shadow]

So sa 450 x 2 way x 21 days/month = 18,900. Amortization pa lang yan, dagdagan mo pa ng gas, PMS, insurance at sakit ng ulo pag may bangga o flat tire. Dagdag mo pa car wash, waiting in line for parking at parking fee, pa rehistro every year Haaay, sarap mag taksi

As I said he already got the SUV.

In short he's paying already those you stated at the same time he still pay for the cab going to work and going home.

Sayang bayad sa PMS hehe then oo lang ng oo sa lahat ng sinasabi ng SA sa casa.

As for me, takot ako mag taxi hehe ewan ko ba siguro dahil hindi lang sanay.

By the way, last week naapreciate ko yan grabcar, naipit ako sa meeting. Need to pick-up wifey, i tried booking a grab car for her. It works!

Ang babaw ng kaligayahan ko feeling ko what an accomplishment, after my meeting she's waiting for me in the office na. Ayos!




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[anonemus]

Re carpool, I'm waiting for UberHOP to go full blast and see if this is a viable hybrid solution to the car vs mass transit dilemma for Metro Manila riding public

Uber brings carpooling service UberHOP to Manila

Anyone knows any update? Limited run pa lang kasi