The Philippine people use several ways to go from one place to another. If they have their own car or motorbike they use it often. Those who don?t have one, are using public transport. It depends on the distance or travel time what kind of transport they use. There are tricycle with or without motorbike, jeepney, fx, taxi, bus or train. And inter-island they use small boats for nearby islands or ferry boats for further away islands.
For short distances they just walk or use a tricycle. The most common tricycle and mostly used is a motorbike with sidecar. Sometimes painted in nice colors. They practically all have a kind of roof so the passenger remains dry when it rains. In some places still, man power driven bicycles with sidecar are used.
Fares are low, about 7 to 8 pesos per ride.
For bigger distances they often use jeepney. I will post about the colorfull jeepney soon. Originally they are transformed American jeeps (left after WWII) with a large sitting area in the back. These days there a jeepneys made on the same principle but without using the jeep chassis. Jeepneys are riding a specific route vice versa which is stated on the car, especially on the front window. Almost all jeepneys are painted with colorful designs, very often religious designs. The Philippines is a very religious country. In a jeepney usually there?s room for 16 to sometimes more than 20 passengers inside. It?s not unusual that also a few people hang on the back and in remote areas also people sitting on the roof.
Some jeepneys have a stereo inside to give entertainment to the passengers. But the music is typically Filipino: very loud, heavy basses, and a lot of disco. Some even have a lot of extra colorful lights when driving in the evening hours.
Fares are also low, about 8 pesos for the first 4 km.
Those who like to travel a little more comfortable can use FX or taxi. Taxi?s are a little the same all over the world. Most of them have air conditioner and prices vary, although the government has implemented a rule that every taxi has to use a meter for the fare. Some taxi drivers try not to use the meter, especially with foreigners whom they ask prices far above the regular fare.
There?s also the so called FX. The first car used as such was the Toyota Tamaraw FX. That?s where the present name FX comes from and is used for all cars of similar type. It is is a small van with room for 6 to 10 passengers, air conditioned and most of the time having a specific route like jeepneys. Fares are still affordable but more expensive than jeepney.
For provincial and interprovincial operations busses are used. Ordinary busses do not have air conditioner and often very poor seats and sometimes no windows. There?s also air conditioned busses. They usually have a bit better seats and the fare is more expensive. For interprovincial traffic there?s also express busses. They offer good seats, seatbelts and air conditioner. Sometimes a meal is included in the fare. The meals are picked up on the way in Jollibee or other fast food restaurant. A lot of busses have TV or DVD on board to entertain the passengers.
In Metro Manila there?s also a kind of metro system. It has three lines with fast trains high above the existing roads and goes sometimes underground. Fares vary from about 13 pesos and up depending on the distance. It is a clean and fast way to travel from one side of Manila to the other. Unfortunately there?s only three lines so far.
A lot of people have to go to work or school using public transport. If they live far from their work or school they sometimes travel one or two hours or sometimes more than that, single trip. In the evening the same again. A lot of people have to change jeep or bus once or twice to reach their destination. The cost of daily transport takes a big part of the Filipinos income.
In tourist areas (around Old Manila and Quiapo) you can also find ‘calesa’, a couch pulled by a horse. They are for tourist purposes and are not used for public transport anymore. Usualy the calesa is made with copper or silver plated shields.
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