For better public transport, make the bigwigs commute

We can make a long list of what’s wrong with our train system. 

 

Their failure to interconnect and the many stations that should have been built by now and haven’t been are indicative of a failure of planning. The escalators that don’t work, the times when trains don’t run, and no air-conditioning on the trains all reveal problems of maintenance. The long lines, long waits on the platforms, and the apparent lack of trains shows that they fail to understand the high demand for trains. 

 

To clarify, I’m speaking mostly for the MRT, which is what I take most often when I try to get from Quezon City to most anywhere south. 

 

Let’s give credit where credit is dude. The trains provide an important mode of public transportation. For all their failures and inefficiencies, the service provided is vital. The trains are the quickest way to get around the city, and if you ride them at the right times, you will be able to avoid most of the traffic that you would have had to deal with if you were taking a bus or driving. 

 

The clamor for keeping the prices down shows how important the trains are to many commuters. And I think this is where the great divide arises between those deciding on the fare raise and those who are asking that it not happen. 

 

The administrators who are proposing these hikes aren’t the service’s clientele. They don’t experience the daily grind of the train rides, don’t have to deal with all the problems of it, and don’t feel the full benefit of taking the trains. Because really, in this country, if you can afford to not use public transportation, you won’t. 

 

The administrators’ lack of the need for the service they sell will obviously color their decision. My proposal, as ever, is make bigwigs commute. At least for a month. Let them experience exactly what it is they are selling to the people. I know that the reasoning for the price hike is that the subsidies are insufficient and people should be made to pay for the services that they get. But really, let’s see these bosses ask for people to pay more when they get a taste of the daily commuting experience. 

 

Of course all of this betrays the much larger issue of inefficient public transportation. The trains are inefficient and unreliable. But they are more efficient and reliable than buses. Jeepneys are just as susceptible to traffic as buses. And pretty much every other mode of public transportation has negatives that far outweigh the positives. 

 

I mean, how many of us have been riding these things in a state of fear? Just this week I was in a careening jeepney whose driver seemed to have a death wish. The jeepney carved its way through traffic narrowly escaping crashes and when it found a bit of daylight it would surge forward at insane speeds before suddenly stopping, the driver hitting the brakes and sending all of us passengers tumbling forward. 

 

But what is one to do? What options are left us?

 

Efficient public transportation is crucial to our economic development. People need fast and reliable ways to get to work, to get home, to get around the city. But the moment that one church group decides to hold an event then an entire section of the city gets shut down. Re-blocking of a major thoroughfare leads to a tripling in the commute times from one place to the next. 

 

What I can sense is that while there are concessions made to the importance of public transportation, a lot of real work has to be done for it to be the well-oiled machine that we would hope it would become. 

 

As we look at these impending train fare hikes, we have to ask ourselves, should we be paying more? One of the arguments against the fare hikes has been that those taking the trains have small salaries and would be adversely affected by the price increase. This is definitely something that should be addressed. 

 

A follow up question to paying more, would be: are we getting the services that we are paying for? I know that the trains get us from one place to another (usually), but we are paying for all aspects of this, including the facilities like the aforementioned escalators, as well as bathrooms and turnstiles that work properly. 

 

The question of government subsidy is of great importance here. By subsidizing the train services, the government shows that it values the trains and it sees that they are providing an important public service. 

 

Considering all of the things that the government needs to pay for, how important does it think the trains are? How much is it willing to sustain their operations? 

 

There are a lot of questions that come into play beyond whether we should pay more or less for our trains. What happens now will show not only how much these fares should be on a practical level, but how important our government perceives the trains are, and how much they value the trains in servicing us as citizens. — KDM/OMG, GMA News