Working Series 2: Metered

(This must be along Taft Avenue...not sure where exactly though)

That roads lengthen at night is a known fact to Zamboanguenos whose popular mode of transportation is the meterless tricycle. It is the tricycle that serves as the 'taxi' as there are only two or three cabs servicing the entire city. Those who want to go home safely and be brought to their house directly could not complain if they are charged more. I wonder, though, how these drivers determine the rate.

With my new work in the nation's capital, however, the FX is my preferred mode of transport. It has been a habit of mine to prepare the exact fare of P25 every morning. On days that I don't have the exact fare, say fifty, I get P25 or 20 as change. The shy person that I am do not care to ask what the actual fare really is. Actually, other than being shy, it is more of the fear to find out what I must actually pay. The thing is I am getting very comfortable paying P25! It looks like it's just worth P25 really; I get to work in less than 40 minutes on a busy Manila morning. I strongly feel it's just a P25-peso ride. But drivers may have a different 'feeling.' This leads me to ask, why are there two different fare rates?

When they charge me thirty, I usually keep quiet. When I hand a P25 and announce my destination, I am sometimes asked to add five and I follow. When I get the 'right' change, I am happy. Five pesos is a big savings; multiply it by two, you get ten pesos!

I do not mind paying the right or higher fare only if everything in the FX transport service is regulated. I have yet to see a printed out fare matrix that is observed everywhere and conspicuously displayed. There are shuttle services that charge exorbitantly, I think. But despite my silent complaints, I continue taking the FX. It's still the choice of many  salaried barong-wearing office workers unless they want to be smelling of Manila air every morning.