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[av_heading heading=’Replace Manila jeepneys with Iloilo models’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JOHNNY NOVERA
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Thursday, March 2, 2017
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OUR GOVERNMENT transport authorities would like to retire old jeepneys in Metro Manila and replace them probably with new buses but there is strong objection from jeepney transport groups.
If you have taken a ride on these passenger jeepneys in Manila, you will note that many of them plying the city streets are already old and probably came from the original surplus units left with us by the US after World War 2.
But with the ingenuity of the Filipino, the army-type jeepneys are still on the streets today to serve as major transport not only in Manila but even in other population centers of the country.
What was done was to remodel the vehicle to provide an extended passenger body. It has now two long seats to accommodate 14 adults facing one another inside, plus two more seated beside the driver in front.
Manila jeepneys do not give a comfortable ride, what with the high stepping board for passengers to get into the vehicle at the back and then with low window visibility when you are seated inside. One could hardly look outside while riding in the vehicle, except when you are in the front seat beside the driver.
We wish that Manila jeep operators can see the Iloilo-type jeepneys we use and built at Villa de Arevalo district in Iloilo City. They have the same passenger capacity as the Manila jeepneys but there is wider leg room for seated passengers, with lower and convenient boarding steps and wide, airy windows that comes with a transparent protective plastic cover when it rains.
About jeepneys, we recall our visit to the US in 2012 when we took a road tour of Colorado. One of the towns we visited was Ouray in the upper area of the state and considered as the jeepney capital of the world.
We saw in Ouray on the western part of town a very wide parking yard occupied by four-wheel drive owner-type jeepneys for rental to tourists.
People come from all over the US and when in town would rent one and drive over mining and wagon roads to visit ghost villages that once upon a time were thriving centers of population during the heydays of gold mining in the state.
Well, we have no old mines like Colorado state to need so many jeeps but we think we can produce enough of the Iloilo-type jeepneys and offer the operators of old transport units in Metro Manila to replace them with our Iloilo-built models.
With 127 banks operating in Iloilo City, we hope that anyone of them can be creative enough to offer advice and later financial assistance to our local jeepney builders and meet this kind of transport need.
Can any one of our local bankers implement the idea to make this happen? (For comments or reactions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com)/PN
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