I just posted a number of articles regarding getting around in my personal car.  But what about those who don’t have a car?  (and by the way, I don’t recommend you make buying a car a real number one priority … get your feet on the ground, first).  In the Philippines, you are in luck, becuase the country is built upon public transportation. 

One of the most common ways to get almost anywhere you’re going is by tricycle.  What almost everyone calls a tricycle, though isn’t really a tricycle, except in the sense that it has three wheels.  It’s a small displacement Japanese motorcycle with a unique to the Philippines sidecar.  Two (or more) folks can sit in the sidecar and one or two (or more ) behind the driver on the motorcycle saddle. (photos courtesy Philippine Pictures)

One of the things you’ll fast learn in the Philippines is that the capacity of any vehicle is properly expressed as “one more”.

Tricycles are typically owner-operated or owned a few at a time by local small businessmen who hire them out to local drivers.  Although they look extremely disorganized and un-controlled to an outsider, in metro areas tricycles are typically tightly governed by independent TODA’s (Tricycle Owner Driver Associations) and the regulation may include the areas a tricycle can operate in, when and how they pick up passengers, fares they may charge, etc.

In my neighborhood the trikes are all under local TODA’s but they operate pretty much independently.  There are usually tricycles at the end of my street, a wave of the hand and one will be there in seconds.  If you’re a “regular’ they’ll know you by sight, and if you need to ride often and there’s not a tricycle congregation near your house, ask your neighbors, they probably have arelative in the business, maybe even one who’ll give you his cell number and you can just text when you need him.

A typical ride/frte here in the Metro Manila area will be 2 kilometers or so to a nearby mall or supermarket and the fare 20 to 30 pesos .. $0.45 to $0.65.  If you take one to the mall, make note of which exit they drop you off at, you likely have to leave by that exit to find a tricycle going back to your neighborhood. 

In my experience, tricycles never have meters, you bargain by the trip and on a “per vehicle” basis rather than “per passenger.”  Always try to find out the “going rate” for tricycle rides before you enrage one … the drivers sometimes have the disconcerting habit of telling you, “It’s up to you” when you ask the fare … and it pays to carry small change, the drivers frequently have none.  Small change is always a problem in traveling her ein the Philippines … an easy trick to remember is to tell the driver to take you where you’re going via a gas station … gas stations always have small change.

So now you know a bit more on life with lees than 4 wheels.

Popularity: 1% [?]