Taxi Stories

It used to be that when I’d ride a taxi, I was never the type who’d chat up the driver. I usually kept to myself, not knowing what to speak with the taxi driver about, and I admit, maybe not even interested at all what their thoughts are about anything.

But I have changed, and with that came more openness to talk to the people we often take for granted, and that included security guards, fast food servers, and yes, taxi drivers. (I do ride the taxi a lot, so I have more than a couple of stories to share about them.)

It is in speaking to them did I realize that there is much to learn about them, and that a taxi ride with a conversation is way more rewarding than a silent one. Admittedly the conversations and experiences with taxi drivers are not always pleasant, so in this Taxi Stories series, I endeavor to relate a balance of both.

Taxi Story #1: No More Taxis?

I was riding the taxi today and I heard again over the radio at DZMM about how fast oil prices have been rising these past weeks. Maybe it was about 2-3 years ago when oil prices were also skyrocketing that everytime I’d ride a taxi and ask them about business, they’d complain about how bad it is, how hard it is for them to hit their “boundary”. For taxi operators, they say many of them have already decided not to continue with their franchises by the coming year as it has become impossible for the operation to be profitable.

I remember those conversations today and realize, Hey I still see a lot of taxis around! Looks like they never quit the business like they said they would. I think one reason for this is that there came out a solution to the rising oil prices – and that was the LPG. If I am not mistaken, it has only been a little over a year since it became fashionable for taxis to convert to run on LPG, and so, being really affordable, it gave these taxi drivers and operators some hope of actually earning.

Taxi Story #2: Taxis and Call Centers

It was around March this year, when I had this conversation with the taxi driver on my usual past midnight, 150-peso taxi fare, 30-minute ride from limbo to dela Rosa.

I wasn’t in good spirits then, but I struggled to change my mood a bit, and decided to get over myself and talk to the taxi driver. Usually, at this wee hour, I’d just sit there quietly wait the ride away. I decided to chat up the driver, something I have not done in a long time. I began with a question in politics which the driver refused to give an opinion on, so we moved to the more neutral topic of his taxi business, how much he’s making, how hard it is to do the business.

He said it used to be really bad, especially at odd hours like this, but nowadays he is thankful that with the growth of call centers, it has given them business at night. Before the call centers, he said that only drunken men were their usual passengers at those hours. At least now, he said, call center employees coming to and from work allow them to hit their “boundary”.

While I have noticed that with the sprouting of call centers also have seen the opening of 24-hour fastfood stores and shops around their offices, I have never thought about how it has affected the taxi business, so when the taxi driver said it, it was quite a revelation for me. I learned something new tonight, I thought. When I got to my place, I promptly paid the driver and wished him the best.

Taxi Story #3: Refusal to Convey, and other taxi woes

The worst place and time to get a taxi is in Makati around the Glorietta area on a Friday, and especially around the rush hour. These taxi drivers are so picky. You frantically flag them down, they slow down to hear you speak your destination, and if it’s anywhere outside Makati, they’d make an excuse that they’re actually picking up someone already or that they’re hungry and would like to eat. The more honest ones would actually say they don’t want to go too far from Makati.

They know that under the law, they can’t refuse passengers, and yet they do it anyway. Passengers on the other hand feel helpless about it. And so it is such a relief, that because of these taxis’ notoriety, the Makati government and the Ayala Group installed security guards and taxi stands where people can line up to get a taxi and where, before a passenger gets on a taxi, the security guard hands them a blank “Affidavit of Complaint” form with only the taxi’s plate number written on it. This is for the passenger to keep and use should the taxi driver refuse the passenger for any reason. The passenger can then submit the form to the Department of Transportation and Communication or DOTC so that the driver/taxi operator can be penalized for the offense. In fact, the form can also be used for any of these other punishable offenses:

1. Fast Meter (Mabilis na Metro)
2. Overcharging (Sobrang Singil)
3. Refusal to Convey (Tumangging Magsakay)
4. Arrogant Driver or Conductor
5. Colorum or No Franchise
6. Contractual Conveyance (Pangongontrata)
7. Cutting Trip
8. Smoke Belching
   

BTW, this is applicable not only to taxis, but also to jeepneys, buses and other public transportation. And you don’t need this complaint form so you can lodge a complaint. Just call the DOTC Hotline at 7890 or the DOTC Action Center at 727-1710, making sure you have the following information: Taxi Name, Nature of Complaint, and at the very minimum, the Plate Number. If you can get the taxi driver’s name, that would be good too.

Other passengers who really have an axe to grind against these taxi drivers however do not bother to lodge complaints with DOTC. Why? Because these complaints need a personal appearance by the complainant at a “hearing” called by DOTC once the complaint is in process. Hopefully we would go the way of those who see through their complaints, making sure the offending driver is punished or reprimanded.

Taxi Story #4: Death and Taxis

Like any good passenger, I would promptly wear the seatbelt as soon as I get seated in a car, and especially in a taxi. I was having a hard time putting the seatbelt on in one taxi, and then the taxi driver said, OK lang, wala namang pulis ngayon eh. That made me laugh. I said, Di naman po ako nagsi-seatbelt para sa pulis, kundi para sa safety.

I think that experience is significant because it wasn’t the only time I heard something like that from a taxi driver whenever I am unable to put on their seatbelts which, very often, are broken.

I wonder if many of these taxi drivers really know or appreciate what seatbelts are for. There was a time when seatbelt use was strictly checked by traffic policemen (albeit only implemented briefly). I suppose that explains why taxi drivers were more concerned about whether we’d get caught by the police (they’d hate to have to pay the cops) rather than if we were being safe in our journey.

I ask the question again: Do our taxi drivers really know the importance of seatbelts for safety? I ask again because some taxis only have a string for a seatbelt, that is, without the tightening mechanism that gets triggered when the belt is pulled suddenly. Even jeepneys are required to have seatbelts in the front seats, and I noticed, theirs too, if they had any at all, were just loose belts that have more tendency of choking you to death first before you even die from a hard impact. It’s all for show. When seatbelts are broken, taxi drivers would even say “Hawakan mo na lang”, meaning to say, Hold it just for show in case a policeman checks so we don’t get caught.

I guess to these drivers, the more frightening thiefs are the ubiquitous cops out to make a buck, instead of that other one that comes like a thief in the night.

*More from this series soon…

Singing in the Rain

“I’m singing in the rain,
Just singing in the rain…
What a glorious feeling,
I’m happy again…”

I was listening to that song today, the refreshing new version of Jamie Cullum. And I thought, what a happy melody, appropriate for these rainy times. There’s supposed to be a storm causing it, but the rain is not the hint of a storm at all as it is quite pleasant, very light, and the raindrops a slow and joyful trickle.

This is the rain I like, the type I won’t mind going out into. Playing in the rain as a child in Dagupan is always the best memory, but growing up, I have discovered that rain is next best in Baguio as the lovely drizzles, combined with the pine scents and scenes, and cool mountain air are just a peaceful experience. I think this perfect experience can be had while inside John Hay among it’s mighty pines at the walking trail, or wherever else in Baguio you may still find a profusion of pine trees and quiet.

I’ve had other memorable experiences in the rain, like the surreal time I had walking, shirtless, near the beach in Rio de Janeiro, with this really heavy rain – not unwelcomely so, because to me it felt like all of life’s blessings raining down on me, and I couldn’t help but be grateful. Surreal because, how many times can you earn the right to casually tell a friend “Oh, by the way, I walked in the rain today along Copacabana”? :)

Having met rain many times in climbing up mountains I have realized that the mountain too is a great place to be caught in it. Admittedly you have to be careful about flashfloods, but absent that threat, rain is more wonderful an adventure the further above sea level you are. Thankfully I have not been once caught in a storm while in a mountain, but there was always rain, and they were especially pleasant and welcome, as they freshened us up from the heat and sweat of an arduous climb.

Mountain rain seems to have a character of their own. I remember how my friend Jeosen eloquently described the “light rain” we had when we went to Mt. Tayak in Laguna more than 2 years ago. She said: “I call it "light rain" because it was a little like "ambon" but the weather was sunny, and you could see the droplets actually floating down to earth, rather than falling. And when it touched you, it was like a soft sweet kiss rather than a cold wet droplet of water. That "light rain" is the most beautiful rain I've ever seen in my life.”

If you hadn’t done so in a while, go out in the rain today --- and claim that soft sweet kiss. :)

Kim Rae Won

That’s his name, the Korean telenovela actor I’m supposed to look like. It’s funny I have to write about it now as it seems like a self-promotion. But really, I have been ignoring such comments for so long. I think the first person who told me I looked like him was either my friend Ceejay (who’s into all those Asian telenovelas) or my former boardmate, a guy mind you, who thinks I look like the actor from Attic Cat. (Every time I’d come home he’d say “O, kumusta ang shooting?” and then I’d just manage a smile.) This was I think about 3 years ago. Ceejay told me of my resemblance one time in the car when from her vantage point she saw an angle of me that did look like this star.

Fast forward to 2008. About 3 weeks ago, I had a Singaporean client who said that she just saw “Love Story in Harvard” and she thought I looked like the actor there. “Love Story in Harvard” is also a Koreanovela, starring the same actor. I know it from Karina, who asked me to watch all of it while she was busy reviewing for her boards. Pretty much by this time I already knew how to respond to such comments, and I was able to act the part, even kidding my client that that’s the reason I am scared to go to Korea, i.e., I’m too afraid to be mobbed by adoring Korean fans. Hehehe. See, that still gives me a laugh when I say that.

What got me to finally write this piece is that, just over a week ago, I had a Korean client, and I almost thought I saw the comment coming when she said “You know you look like a famous Korean actor.” That was it! A real confirmation from a real Korean! People are not just conjuring the resemblance, maybe there is a real resemblance if this Korean says so! So that comment really made my day and gave me more license I suppose to share the funny anecdote to friends. The Korean even added the observation that “Filipino men are handsome” (really), and I thought maybe she was being general because she was too shy to tell me upfront that I was handsome. But we all know what she meant, right? Hehehe. Ok, I have stretched this topic for too long. Time to put my ego back to normal size. :) But I think my smile will stay as wide as possible for a while.

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Notes from the author:
(1) I am going to keep my blog posts also in my Multiply site: http://notnot0128.multiply.com.

(2) OK, so this first post after what, 2 years, is quite lighthearted, almost superficial... and it's what I would like my future posts to be... lighthearted, that is. I have a couple more posts already lined up, so hopefully this is the start of a more healthy and active posting from me, just like I said I would at the homepage.