I WENT back to the Philippines as a balikbayan to study in a seminary in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.
Weekly, from Bulacan to Nueva Ecija, I drove a car and it took me about three hours to reach my destination. The problem, e.g. Baguio and other places in Luzon, is not so much about the conditions of the road but about the tricycles who hamper travel by using the national highways.
These tricyle [drivers], though they have the right to earn a living, are blocking the streets particularly in public palengkes or markets. Without these tricycles on the streets, I could have reached Cabanatuan within one-and-a-half hours. Lack of discipline and training for traffic rules compounded the problems — endangering both motorists and pedestrians.
Let’s not wait for some big disasters to happen — they are causing deaths and accidents in every part of the country. I urge the MMDA and the LTC to act on this nuisance and obstruction in our our national highway. I urge Mr. [Bayani] Fernando, who is doing a good job as MMDA chair, to travel more by car to those places to see these problems.
– Paddy Padilla, Carson, California (via e-mail)
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December 7th, 2007 at 6:22 am
Hindi mo ba alam na ang road widening projects ay para sa mga tricycle? Take a look at Montillano Street, Alabang Muntinlupa City and Bautista Road cor. Molino-Paliparan Road, Salawag, Dasmariñas, Cavite.
October 31st, 2007 at 1:20 am
Jack…
I\’m not sure I agree with you….
October 18th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
i agree that engr/archt. designs have a lot to do w/ the traffic caused by the tricycles along nueva ecija, tarlac and pangasinan. imagine, designing places, markets, bldgs. along the main road w/ no parking!#%& so, people park on the sidewalks, so w/tricycles too. hence, traffic jams occur. in other countries, markets are located outside the busy main streets.
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:40 am
Naiisip ko lang na prang sa atin lang may mga speedy bus along the town roads, like pag byahe ka paglagpas ng NLEX going North lahat ng dadaanan ng bus, mostly sa residential roads na , or roads na may mga bahay sa gilid, and these are speedy buses, not town buses or city buses only. About tricycles and de-padyaks or jeeps… eto lang ang proof na di talaga umuunlad bansa natin, still the the same. Dekada na yang mga yan, wala pa rin pinagbago, bagay kesa naman wala kainin pamilya mo, kapit ka na lang sa patalim, bat kasi mostly politicians lang mayayaman sa mga liblib na baryo, like punta ka sa medyo liblib na bayan tapos me magandang bahay.. sure ke mayor yan o ke gov. Bakit kaya???
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:22 am
in all over the world there seems to be a problem with someone trying to get some where and someone allways seems to be in your way slowing progress down. its only ganna get worst and its never gonna get better just because of the fact that its not the growing numbers of tricycles that’s causing the trafic and congestion problems that your having. the real problem is and allways have been in there is the over explosion of human population with no other means ways or knowledge to make a living for a better tomorrow or even for just a rainy day. bringing food home at a daily bassis is hard enough for one person, let alone saving money for tomorrow so little elizabeth can go to a decent school. maybe then she doesnt have to fall onto the family business of driving a tricycle to feed her future family.
you can take all the tricycles away from those poverty stricken locals and then give them a car so safety is not so much of an issue for the driver and the passeners. Then that means you have to widen and expand the highways and the streets, this has to be done anyways.
So you have now replaced the tricycles with little cars and widden the roads for better trafic flows, lets just say that this was all for free, then your still left with all those people that has no jobs because of lack of education resulting to lesser job opportunities but are still having children with a hope of their children has better luck in their life. OVER POPULATION IN SMALL AREAS SPECIALY ISLANDS IS THE MAIN PROBLEM YOU ARE EXPERIENCING. there has to be a strong job or mork industry to suport any massive population for a country to run smoothly ;and the prime example or symtom of over population is over crowding in the roads and streets. Mahal ko ang mga pinoy ko. kaya sana maka hanap tayo ng solution sa mga malilibog o kailangan natin ng edukation sa mga bata at mag bukas ng mga negosio para sa mga kinabukasas
September 28th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
TRYCYCLES, JEEPNEYS, PEDAL-CYCLES, IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF PINOY INEFFICIENCY AND “TAMA NA YAN ATTITUDE”. SOME PEOPLE CALL IT “FILIPINO INGENUITY” BUT ITS NOT, RATHER I CALL IT “FILIPINO STUPIDITY”.
THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH BOTH THE PEOPLE WHO MANAGE AND RUN THE COUNTRY AND THE WHOLE POPULATION.
THERE IS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF CHICKEN AND EGG PROBLEM THAT HAMPERS THE PHILIPPINES DEVELOPMENT. THE GOVT HAS NO BALLS TO IMPLEMENT LAWS THAT MAYBE DISADVANTAGIOUS FOR MANY IN A SHORT TIME BUT WILL EVENTUALLY PAYBACK BETTER RETURNS IN THE FUTURE.
IF WE MAKE OUR ROADS 2-3 LANES ON EACH WAY, 3MTRS ISLAND IN BETWEEN, AND MAKE 300MTR SETBACK BEFORE BUILDINGS ARE ALLOWED TO BE BUILT WE’LL GET THE BEST ROADS IN THE WORLD. CAN YOU SEE WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN HERE? NO POLITICIAN COULD EVER GET ELECTED TO DO THIS PROJECT BECAUSE HE LOSES THE VOTES FROM OWNERS OF LANDS WHERE THE ROAD PASSES. AND SECONDLY IT SEEMS WE DON’T HAVE ANYMORE HONEST POLITICIANS. WE ARE ONE OF THE MOST CORRUPT COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD.
WHAR A SHAME
September 28th, 2007 at 9:15 am
The Philippines is a unique country and every country has its uniqueness…. why question the attitudes of the tricycle drivers on the highway if that is how we been living our life on our road networks for so long. It may not come lightly or even safe to other people in other countries on how tricycles ply their roads, but for a Filipino living here, it works. Road education is our weakness when traffic is concern, from the drivers to the traffic enforcers and even to the government bureaucrats. Throwing mud at each other seems to be the only reaction when discussing this major problem that has been hounding us since we learn to put our foot on the pedal. Tricycles, jeepneys, buses, trucks and private cars, everyone deserves to be on these road networks. Everyone is earning a living. Limited road networks and congestion are the major factors. Expansion of road networks is quite a tall order. BUT congestion can be remedied. But it must come in each one of us….Our driving attitudes toward each other worsens the condition. Avoiding TAILGATING or the “tutok” habit will solve all our traffic woes. If each and everyone of us will be mandated to create a minimum of a 2-car space in front EVERY TIME, moving or stationary, we definitely will remove congestion. This spaces between cars will guide us drivers to maintain lane order and will allow tricyles or motorbikes to pass thru without hampering the traffic flow. Tailgating creates congestion, congestion builds and slows traffic. This is how the government should control our road networks, apprehend tailgaters. They are easy to find and to notice if everyone has a big space between each other. The traffic will flow if there are spaces created, pedestrians can easily cross when there are spaces and the drivers can yield ahead of time to avoid problems ahead. Emergency vehicles can pass through and lives can be save on time. But are we willing to contribute to the solution? Or will wait till whatever happens and just bicker to one another about how our country is being left out. Can we give space to one another??
September 26th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Mga jeepney/tricycle drivers na walang muwang sa batas trapiko, mga drivers na walang respeto sa kapwa. dagdagan pa ng mga traffic enforcers na kotong at pabaya! yang mga yan ang tunay problema ng ating bansa, yang mga yan ang mga batik sa lipunan. ni wala ka nang makikitang pulis trapiko sa kalye..iniasa ng lahat sa mga baranggay tanod ang responsibilidad….kawawang Pilipinas
September 26th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Allergic sa tricycles and traffic? Please rent a chopper. Thanks
September 26th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Mr. Balikbayan,
MMDA - means Metro Manila Development Authority. The route (highway) you’ve been traveling daily that is from Bulacan to Nueva Ecija is not a part of Metro Manila. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:48 am
It’s not only the tricycles that are impeding traffic. Have you noticed that most of the towns’ public market are built along the main highway? There are no setbacks from these public markets therefore drivers park their vehicles very close to the main highway or worse block the highways to wait and haul passengers.
Mga gago kasi ang mga nagpaplano at nagaaprove ng mga buildings na eto. You try driving along the main highways of Tarlac, Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, etc. Yung palengke at iba pang mga building at nasa tabi lang ng kalsada at mga nagpaparada ay nakabara sa highway. Wala man lang paradahan na ginagawa kundi mismong sa kalsada. Lintik na mga estupidong enhinyeros!
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I agree with Paddy about the traffic condition along our national
highways.
I am an OFW and I also experience the same excruciating experience. Every time I come home I always love to drive my family to different places in our country.
So as not to sour the holiday feelings I try to exercise 110% of my patience
to these tricycles while driving the provincial highways. When you tag along a queue of snail moving vehicles that means there is a lead tricycle out there. During night time you must be
very extra careful because most of these tricycles have broken tail lights.
These tricycles roaming the highways are every where. 15 years ago I used to
cover Manila to Baguio in about 3.5 hrs in my beat up car. Now 6 hrs or more
becomes a norm.
This may become like the case of the jeepneys. You cannot totally eliminate these public transportation vehicles.
The best solution is to construct bypass highways where tricycles, bicycles,
karitelas, and the likes are prohibited; and to allow only these tricycles to
ply within a certain radius of the town. Anyone who wants to travel beyond
that point should take the bus or jeepney instead.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:42 pm
I don’t know what to say either. Frankly I hate these tricycles for above reasons you all have already pointed out. But when I think about my sister who relies on tricycle to transport her and her two small children to school, I am stumped.
When I think about my neighbors who patronize the abusive drivers and their trikes not by choice but by circumstance, I feel really angry about our state of economy.
Banishing this obstructions on the road has a multiplier effect its like toppling a stack of dominoes. It affect the whole community, the whole country, the government.
The state of our roads really tells a lot about what kind of country we had become. Dati jeep pa, ngayon trisikad na nga lang e. May pagkakitaan lang.
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:31 pm
[...] Vox Populi : Balikbayan on 3-hour Baguio trip [...]
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:24 am
Paddy, vooooooodzzzzzzzzz & Tim mga steksayds?? (sabi ni lolo)
C’mon yo, Dati nyo ng alam na ganito na ang situation sa mga kalsada at mga daanan ng sasakyan natin sa ‘Pinas lalo na sa mga poblacion sa Probinsya pag araw ng palengke. Of course sa sobrang dami ba naman not only tricycles but all types of vehicles nandiyan na at lalo pa walang 3 to 4 lanes roads to minimize heavy traffic. Kaya the best thing to do if you’re driving in the Phil drive and act like a real Pinoy driver just like when you are in LA and/or in other parts of the states in the US, as they say if you are driving in New York drive like a New Yorker. Common sense mag hanap ng ibang route and to tell you if you are driving your own car in the Phil you can just easily find another way for you not to be caught in traffic. Believe me there are alternate routes going to your destination. Heavy traffic?, pedicabs?, jeepneys with passengers on top at may mga nakasabit pa?, pedestrians?, at mga napakaraming pedestrians?, at ang mga inaayawan ni Paddy na mga TRICYCLES? Mga kabayan relax lang, kasama lahat yan sa Buhay Pinoy, OK? And again to you Paddy, please be advised that all areas outside Metro Manila is no longer under the area of responsibility of MMDA Chair BF.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:57 pm
The Philippines is a poor country. It is not even in the developing country rank these days. The only “hanapbuhay” or work that poor pinoys can do to feed themselves and their families is tricycle transportation. How many pinoys can work as factory workers? Factory must reach at least high-school or 2 years college couse. Everything is a problem in this benighted. The only untroubled in Pinas are the Filipinos themselves.
September 21st, 2007 at 5:40 pm
bulacan to ecija in 3 hours!!!!! whoaaa!!! that’s a lot of speed, mate. i’ve never heard of people dying caused by tricycles numbering by the ants on our highways. and my brother barely survived his x-trail turned turtle in NCLEX for doing 90 kph! manila-baguio in 3 hours!!! wtf!!! drive at 2 a.m., take kennon road and at top speed, you’d be lucky to arrive in four hours!! get a life. i’d rather get stuck with this hard working people than drive side by side with a speed nut sweating his patient out.
September 21st, 2007 at 9:08 am
[...] Vox Populi : Balikbayan on 3-hour Baguio trip [...]
September 21st, 2007 at 6:51 am
This is the job of the local officials primarily the mayor… (not the MMDA). The presence of tricycles on highways is one clear proof that the mayor of that town/city is not doing his/her job and does not deserve reelection…
Although I salute BF for cleaning many parts of the Metro, I do not think that he has done enough in Balintawak. The traffic there is still often heavy…
September 21st, 2007 at 1:44 am
Tama ka kabayan, sabi nga tricycle ang hari ng highway, pero sila minsan cause ng delay sa pag - travel lalo na hindi ganun kalawak ang Mc. Arthur Hi-way. Yes, Bayani Fernando and the rest of MMDA did a very good job in Metro Manila and we salute you for that, nung last vacation ko, nagulat ako sa balintawak since its so clean and walang traffic, also sa kahabaan ng edsa. Anyway to cut the story short, I agree with Paddy, Sir Bayani Fernando, go go go! Cut the travel time of Manila to Baguio to 3 hours, since I’m also from Baguio.
September 21st, 2007 at 12:51 am
Tricycles are a general problem. They are needed everywhere due to lack of sufficient public transportation. But they are also an imminent problem, the vehicles and the drivers.
The vehicles because it is not easy to imagine a public transportation which is more inconvenient, more dangerous, mor uncomfortable than a tricycle. There is not space enough, it is open to dust and rain, and outside bigger communities, riding a tricycle is more a torture than a transportation, not to mention that, for obvious reason, anything carried in the back box is also unprotected against dirt and rain, no one has a cover.
The drivers, there are some very careful and very honest ones, who do not overprice, who try to return what might have been forgotten or lost by a passenger.
But there are also those who try to cheat, to overprice, requesting double- and triple ride even this is not existing in their license. Those who push three and four passengers, even the license says “three incl. driver”. Those who ask “where you come from” and if they realize the passenger does not know the local rules, charge more than taxis would charge.
Driving a tricycle is not an easy target, tricycles are not technically controlled like cars after they are produced. Means, easy the wheels could be unparallel, causing side-drifting. Brakes are often not in good condition because of overloading and poor maintenence. Lights are a horror since usually power comes direct from the engine, not from a battery. Means that there where the vehicle has to go slow for bad roads, the light is also dim where brightest light would be needed. Lastly, there are many tricycles with very small and old engines, causing that passengers have to go out when the road is bad or a bit steep. An old, poor maintained 99 or even less cubic centimeter engine has too little power at roads that are not flat and in good condition. No problem for private Tricycles, but if used commercially as public transportation, the engines should be at least 125 cc.
In addition, drivers should be well informed that more oil as by the manufacturer requested is not better protecting the engine but lessening the power and producing a lot of cancerous smoke.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Deal with it!As you have mentioned balikbayan ka kaya naninibago ka sa pinas,unlike in the states cars rule the roads,sa pinas tricycle rules.Tricycle and jeepney are the primary mode of transport in the Philippines and not mearly a nuisance that should be banished.When you are driving just treat and respect them(tricycle)like they are cars also.
September 20th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Filipinos observing traffic discipline and traffic rules and regulations is another big dream, tall order, or whatever one may want to term it.
I don’t think it will happen, ever.
Balikbayans will just have to re-learn how to drive in the Philippines, and foreigners have to learn how to drive there.
It’s a fact.
If a decent driver ever stops FULLY at a stop sign in any congested city, he will either get hit from behind, or get cursed at by his fellow drivers, especially jeepney drivers, and given the “what, you crazy or something” stare, and then there are the pedestrians, who will most definitely block his way, making him think, “next time I won’t do that”.
It’s not just the drivers.
The pedestrians are a problem, too.
Sometimes traffic happens where you get stopped in front of a driveway, or small cross-street, or side street.
Here in the States, you normally would not block that intersection, or driveway.
Can’t do that there, man.
You try to be halfway decent and give consideration to other incoming drivers, the vehicles behind you honk at you like crazy, or the vehicles left of you block what you do not want to block.