Rage Against the Bus
This bus almost ran us over. From White Plains to Cubao, this Jell Transport monster tackled EDSA like he was racing against time. The bus driver was undaunted by endless honking from his potential crash victims. It was terrible, terrible, terrible. My companion gripped the wheel angrily as we watched this bus ahead of us wreak havoc on EDSA.
There are good bus drivers and there are terrible ones. I’ve seen buses that adhere to road rules. That is a rare sighting in Manila though. The terrible bus drivers are present every single hour of every single day. This Jell Transport bus we encountered yesterday seems to have been the Godzilla of all monster buses.
If only I had a video camera while it made EDSA its playground. I feared for the pedestrians and all the vehicles that were avoiding the monster bus. Another stupid thing about this bus? It was a smoke belcher too!
Do you ever pull up by the bus driver’s side and give him an angry look? I had a friend who would throw empty water bottles at the drivers. Bad, I know. He knows it too. Sometimes in one’s rage against these buses though, you lose all sense of reason and just want to tip the bus over with your curses and whatever you get your hands on. It’s a senseless act really as the bus drivers just sneer at you or worse, pretend you’re not there.
I know these drivers are making a living, but can they please do this without threatening other motorists’ lives? This is a rant post, yes, and one that is making you guys aware of this Jell Transport monster. What can be done about these buses? Elections are coming up; will any candidate be strong enough to do something about this? What the hell is the MMDA doing about it anyway? My rage just raises more questions. I don’t think anything can really be done unless these bus drivers change themselves. Until then, good luck to all of us motorists. EDSA will continue to be a playground for these monsters for as long as the bus drivers don’t do anything about their lack of respect for rules and the people around them.
Aaah… the mobile kabaongs!
You want to change the way our bus drivers drive? Ask the lawmakers to abolish the boundary system that shapes their behavior.
Shifting to a set salary system will also safeguard the employment/livelihood of bus drivers. It will also weed out the fly-by-night operators who run the worst of the rigs on the road.
I would also argue for a bus priority lane – our current bus segration scheme is supposed to keep buses off the main lanes -but does nothing to speed up bus traffic. Why should 1 or two people in 1 car have traffic priority over 70 people in a bus? Do cars count more than people? Or are car owners more important than bus riders?
(What would really be ideal is a local application of trans-millenio.)
urbano
Charlie: LOL! Scary though because it’s possible. :/
Urbano: Thank you for that information and the links! I will check them out soon. My friends and I have discussed the same things you pointed out. Another way to go about is I think the lawmakers should drop whatever drivers they have and feel the wrath of these buses themselves. Once their lives are threatened by these raging buses, perhaps they’ll enforce proper rules.
I was hoping that the MRT and the bus lanes would help but no…. anyway, I wish the MMDA would focus to them more than on private vehicles.
Do you have the number of Jell Transport, I almost got hit by a Jell Transport bus a while ago and I want to file a complaint.