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21st century jeepney

Note: Another article (published in this paper’s Alter.Native column for Oct. 3, 2004), that I’d like to see print again.. – PSV.

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Many urban middle-class Filipinos – typically those who own cars – have long complained about the jeepney. They harp on its oddity as a World War II relic, an obsolete and tawdry mode of transport that they wish would go away. The sooner, the better.

In a sprawling metropolis slowed down by daily gridlock, traffic czars blame the worsening traffic congestion on jeepneys and, increasingly, buses and tricycles. Local governments push for stricter measures towards their eventual phase-out from main thoroughfares.

Well, we’ve got news for all Bayani Fernando wannabes out there: the jeepney will outlive our generation. Given enough time and growth space, the jeepney will evolve to become the country’s favored short-route mode of public transport.

More accurately, the functions of the jeepney, the minibus, the tricycle, and the “FX van” will gradually become more integrated, rational and efficient.

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How can this be, you ask.

Buses and trains run along fixed lines or routes. They are the best mode of bulk land transport for long-haul passengers and freight. But since they run from station to station, they can’t carry people and things directly from point of origin to point of destination. They will have nothing to ferry if the stations are not fed with passengers from many points.

Taxis and private cars can go from point to point. But they are too expensive for many kinds of trips and for many people.

Private cars won’t solve the problem. In the first place, large numbers of people cannot use a car, either because they can’t afford it, or they are too young, too old, or too handicapped to drive. Also, many private car owners would consider other options because of car maintenance, parking, traffic, and other woes.

The taxi could answer the need, if only it allows a bigger load of passengers to share the costs. Running late and wanting to take a taxi ride, many of us have often shared the ride (and the fare) with other would-be passengers going in the same direction – an “impromptu taxi pool.” In fact, the megataxi phenomenon arose due to this demand.

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The solution therefore is to evolve a hybrid type of public transport vehicle that works halfway between a bus and a taxi: a sort of small bus or van that can ply a flexible or impromptu route (depending on their exact passenger composition), picking up people at any point along the way and dropping them at some corner near their actual destination.

Much like a jeepney, only that the future “modified jeepney” (or mojeep, as I prefer to call it) would run along a flexible or impromptu route. Tricycles servicing many sprawling subdivisions actually work this way, their limited passenger space being their only drawback.

(In olden days, with AC’s or auto-calesas, we also had this practical arrangement called “short trip.”)

You might think this future system would be chaotic, since one passenger would expect the mojeep to bring him quickly towards his destination, while another passenger would insist to be ferried first to another direction. But, as subdivision tricycle drivers know, there is always a happy middle-ground solution for their different passengers.

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Such a “mojeep system” can function efficiently if each trip is dispatched and its route programmed by computers, with passengers calling for pickup by telephone or text. Research and full-scale experiments in Canada and the US have shown that the system is efficient and much less costly than taxis.

Computer programs can now automate this process, so that dispatchers or drivers themselves can instantaneously find the best routing solutions for a specific load of passengers, and even anticipate the passenger load for specific sections of the route and times of the day.

Such a system would require more rational ownership patterns of the means of public transport. Maybe the future mojeeps will be state-owned, or coop-owned, or privately-owned but operated under some public charter.

Thus, the solution to our public transport woes is not to kill the jeepneys (and tricycles and minibuses) or restrict their routes, but to support their technical and operational evolution. This evolution will happen whether we like it or not. Such a system will survive, evolve, and ultimately reach its highest level of efficiency, because it answers definite needs. #

Romancing the sword (1)
Romancing the sword (2)
Romancing the sword (3)

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