Hell revisited
How about a cable car instead, as proposed by one Senator Robinhood Padilla, whose suggestion is now being met with equal parts humor and rejection?
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Daily TribuneHow about a cable car instead, as proposed by one Senator Robinhood Padilla, whose suggestion is now being met with equal parts humor and rejection?
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If you have ever had to wait two hours for a ride out of a place just 30 minutes away under "normal" conditions, you would know what hell feels like.
Hell, in this case, is the TNVS problem. That is level one.
The absence of convenience offered by the Transport Network Vehicle Service network at peak hours can stretch the most patient among us to breaking point. It could make or break a job. It could mess up relationships.
Hell, it could drive a calm man like Atom Araullo to tweet his frustration as such: "Just arrived at the airport from an overseas trip. No coupon taxis, no metered taxis, no Grab."
The journalist/documentarist noted, on 9 December, the lack of a bus or train at the airport as well, saying: "Basically, if you don't have someone to pick you up, you're dead. It's been an hour and counting.
This is what a broken transpo system looks like."
If the popular documentarist took the train system, he might even get frustrated by the lack of Beep cards lately, in stations of the Metro Rail Transit-Line 3.
Beep card operator AF Payments Inc., accused of profiteering amid the reported shortage, said it had even been "subsidizing the cost of cards for years."
This, one can tell, is another hell for those who waste precious hours in line to get single-use cards every single time they take the train.
Level two is the road congestion that we almost forgot about since 2020 when Covid-19 swept the streets clean of "too many cars for very little road."
How about a cable car instead, as proposed by one Senator Robinhood Padilla, whose suggestion is now being met with equal parts humor and rejection?
While many took pity on the actor whom they said did not know the concept of "mass transport," adding that cable cars work for tourists and not regular people, the Department of Transportation reportedly did not dismiss the idea outright.
As DoTr Secretary Jaime Bautista was quoted as saying, "Cable car systems are already being used worldwide as a mode of transport such as in Brazil and Colombia. DoTr already conducted a feasibility study during the previous administration and it appears that there are probable routes where it is feasible and can fill gaps not served by road or rail sectors."
This brings us to level three — a transport system that remains insufficient, especially now that people are out, in droves, during the holiday season.
The Metro Manila Development Authority said an estimated 417,000 vehicles pass through Edsa every day (as of 24 November). And traffic does worsen as Christmas nears.
If only one could fly. Or, at least, if only government leaders' ideas would fly!
