Traffic During My College Days

Nowadays, traffic jams in the major streets and thoroughfares of Metro-Manila are so dreadful you have to really plan your trip if you are going to drive your own car. Traffic jams are not only time consuming, it is also a big drain on the pocket. What with more than PhP30.00 per liter cost of gasoline which could make you travel only five (5) kilometers on heavy traffic situation. Sometimes, it is really better to take a taxi than drive your car. You don’t have to worry about parking space for your car and of course, the carnappers.

Would you like to know how was the traffic in the early seventies? Yes, there were already cars, buses, jeepneys and trucks then. Sorry, no LRT and MRT trains un those days but you don’t need to worry about getting late for work, school or business appointments.

I used to work at a government bureau as a Laboratory Aide in the vicinity of Quezon Memorial Circle in 1974 while at the same time enrolled as a student of a school in Intramuros, Manila. Would you believe that riding a bus in my place of work at past 5:00 PM, I can catch my 5:30 PM class on time. Do not even imagine how is it possible, I myself, cannot believe it if I compare the situaton now when it would take no less than one and a half (1-1/2) by public ride on a jeepney or a bus.

As I said, there were also buses, jeepneys, cars and trucks even then. And yes, there may be a lot less vehicles then than now, but this, to my observation was not the only reason why traffic moves a lot faster. I should say, road discipline among drivers and commuters contributed a lot to such situation. In those days, public utility vehicles would only stop to pick-up and drop-off passengers at designated places. Commuters would have to step-in and alight on those designated jeepney and bus stops only. There could be other reasons but the lack of road courtesy at present is one distinct difference of note when analyzing the traffic situation then versus now.

By the way, the transport fare during those days was ten (PhP0.10) centavos for a five (5) kilometer ride which was later increased to fifteen (PhP0.15) centavos when gasoline prices went up from twenty-five (PhP0.25) per liter to forty (PhP0.40) centavos per liter. My salary as governement casual employee in those days was eight (PhP8.00) pesos per day.

More on the cost of living in those days in my future post. Watch for them.