Moving in the Manila, Philippines.

  Manila, the capital of the Philippines. For me ,it is a crowd busy city, even though I am just a student here and just expecting the incoming forth year of my college. I saw people like everywhere everyday, indeed, they are.

  Walking on the street in metro Manila, you will never miss the cars, vechiles, trucks, buses,and the most popular transportation which is jeepney. The streets and road are going to anywhere and crossing with each other, traffic phenomenon every day especially  during the peak time of the people going to work and off their jobs to home. Whereever you go ,whenever you move, you have to take some ways of transportation. The transportation services here in the metro Manila are kinds of ways.

  First, I would like to talk about the Light Rail Transit system in Manila,it is popularly and informally know as LRT.It is a metropolitan rail system serving the metro manila area in the Philipppines. Although referred to as a light rail system because it originally used light rail vehicles, it has characteristics that make it more akin to a rapid transitsystem, such as high passenger throughput, exclusive right-of-way and later use of full metro rolling stock. The system is operated by the Light Rail Transit Authority(LRTA), a government-owned and controlled corporation under the authority of the Departmet of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). Along with the Manila metro Rail Transit system(MRT-3, also called the new Yellow Line), and Philippine nationnal Railway's commuter line, the system makes up Metro Manila's rail infrastructure. Everyday, it serves millions of passengers and run almost all over the city. I have taken LRT several times, it does fast but it was really crowded during the peak time, even you have to push the people in front of you and use your strength to make a little space just for stand on the train, but the fare is not expensive, you could take it to somewhere then ride the other transportations.

  Second is the Buses in the Manila. I noticed there are a lot of bus terminals located in different places in Manila, some of them are just like the city's lines, and some of them are going to the provinces of the Philippines.The buses could take a lot of people even its already overloaded or excess the freight. The bus drivers are driving the bus like fast and furious, usually during the red light at the carless roads, they just go through their way without looking at the traffic lights. I think the biggest problem of the buses in the metro manila is that it is lacking of a kind formal system rules or policy. Whether it is fast or slow, it only depends on the arivers themselves but not the policy on the road or the traffic policemen. Unlike in China, most of the buses transportation do have a strict system to follow. Whether there are people at the station ,the bus driver stop, and if there is no station on the road, the buses will not be stopped by the drivers. Of course ,all of those should under the control of the policies.

   Now, it is the time for the most popular transportation in the Philippines. Jeepney.They are known for their crowded seating and kitsch decorations, which have become a ubiquitous symbol of Philippine culture and art. Jeepneys were originally made from the US military jeeps left over from World War II,now a days, the manufacturers made different types of jeepneys. In the metro Manila, the jeepneys are mainly service for the passengers and transfering goods. There are alomost 24/7 operating by the jeepney drivers.The jeepney is the cheapest way to commute in the Philippines. Because of its open rear door design, picking up and dropping off is easy for both passengers and drivers, they can stop anywhere unlike buses. But also because of this convenience, some jeepney drivers are the source of traffic congestion by indiscriminately loading and unloading passengers in the middle of the street, blocking traffic and risking the safety of some passengers. They are notorious for engaging in unfair practices such as jostling over passengers, blocking other jeepneys to get passengers in the middle of the lane and trip-cutting (not completing the route, dropping off passengers if there are less than three to return to the jeepney stand and wait for a new set of passengers as it is not profitable for them to continue the route). Hence, some people are requesting that this mode of transportation be phased out, which is also blamed as a major source of air pollution in cities.Outside of metropolitan areas (Metro Manila and Metro Cebu), jeepneys are quite ancient and patched. Today's passengers are discerning, and given the choice would prefer to ride longer distances in the comfort that jeepneys do not provide. Jeepneys for the most part are unfit for human transportation; they are often mechanically unsound, and not at all roadworthy, with their balding tyres, crabbing and yawing from distorted subframes, emissions which couldn't pass tests. Their longitudinal seating and lack of any seat-belts is less than safe. The low height of the saloon, and the extended roof above the driver, make visibility very poor.The high step at the back and the restricted height make entry and exit difficult. In addition, they have little space for shopping bags.

  There are still other transportation ways like taxis, FX,and bicycles. People move around everyday in Manila, so I will continue to introduce some other ways for the servicing of transportation in Manila next time.