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ओपन एयर (कों बस)

Open air-con bus

ALIN ang mas nakakahiya, makita ng madla na nangungulangot o umamin sa pag-utot?

Agad na inilipat ang talapihitan ng radyo sa 98.7 FM… ibang usapan, panayam sa isang babaeng manunulat ng mga librong crime thriller, inuungkat ang diskarte niya sa pananaliksik at pagsusulat. Now, that’s the kind of earful that I won’t take offense at… it has respect for me as an erudite, maybe, learned listener… kaya hindi mabubulungan ni Satanas na bibigyan niya ako ng kahit ilang nuclear warheads para burahin sa balat ng lupa at sa himpapawid ang naunang istasyon ng radyong bumulaga sa pandinig.

‘Yung mapapakinggan at mapapanood ang isa sa mga pangunahing dahilan kaya mas mahilig kaming sumakay sa open air(con bus)… tipid kahit konti sa pasahe, at karaniwang walang ‘kakapikang radyo na magbubuhos ng usapang imburnal o DVD player na magpapalabas ng mga tagpo ng pelikulang karima-rimarim.

Lack of such contraptions in those buses won’t allow the bus driver to inflict his execrable taste for sights or ‘sounds’ on the hapless commuter.

Hindi na baleng sumagap ng lahat ng alimuom, alikabok at usok-tambutso mula lansangan… basta huwag na lang mapika’t makapag-isip kung paano uupakan ng weapons of mass destruction ang mga bugok at gunggong na kapural ng mass distraction.


Hindi naman siguro mga busabos ang mga tsuper ng bus sa Cebu—palihug, sa lugar lang, bay—na nagpumilit sa LTFRB… na kahit daw patuloy umaakyat ang presyo ng krudo, hindi raw sila gagaya sa mga bus sa Metro-Manila na nagkukumahog na patawan ng mas mabigat na parusa sa bulsa ang karaniwang commuters. Ibinalik nila sa P6 ang singil sa minimum fare.


That’s a show of sensitivity and consideration
. Isa pa sigurong malinaw na asenso sa lansangan kung mas maraming public utility vehicles na masasakyan ko ang nakapako ang radyo sa 98.7 FM… classical music ang ibinubusina ng naturang himpilan. At iba ang bisa ng classical music on attention span, focus, and brain energy levels…

In an independent traffic study done on a major thoroughfare in the western corridor of the metropolis, it was found that (1) infrastructures—and the route was wide enough to accommodate vehicles of all sizes-- to ease flow of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic were in place, (2)traffic laws on road use and safety are more than enough, and (3) traffic signs were in order… yet, that thoroughfare was bedeviled every hour on the hour by monster traffic jams. What was wrong?

Without batting an eyelash, the surveyors told it like it is: “You Filipinos have an attitude problem in the streets. That’s the root of the traffic problems that you have in every bit of by-way or major highway.”


Gano’n lang ang ugat ng suliranin ng Filipino sa trapik… pati na drug trafficking.

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