The Bus. Part of Urban Blight.

Dubbed as "Kings of the Road" second to those blasted metallic hunks of scrap metal called jeepneys, buses in our country are no different in terms of crass methods of "professional driving" for public transportation. Like in most developing countries, the drivers and the methods of these buses are very dangerous to an extent that it endangers both the passengers and motorists on busy thoroughfares. Well-known for their smoke-belching, loud horns and simply blocking the traffic flow, buses are definitely a blight in our system today.

Because of the increased ridership in our train system nowadays which still needs improvement, you could find buses either half-empty or with no passengers at all. That is because buses fail at being an efficient public transportation system. You could find all sorts of buses within Metro Manila so let me profile them for you.

1. The "Survivor"

- The non-aircon bus. These are basically buses with no air-conditioning and equipped with uncomfortable seats. And more importantly, railings. Why? For you to hold on

for your dear life. These things are like zombies for some reason. Made out of the carcasses of rejected buses and refurbished to function again, they move slow during the day because of the heavy traffic. However, come nightfall, these things are speed demons that make your ride a rollercoaster, literally. Personally, I would only ride this for short trips or if I have no other choice. You may also find more of these in the provincial routes. For you thrill-seekers, enjoy.

2. The Japanese Second-Hand

- A small second-hand aircon bus imported from Japan. These buses are quite noticeable for their old, musty interior and refurbished seats made to fit Philippine standards. (And by

Philippine standards, I mean mediocrity.) Unaligned seats, musty smell and suffocating air-conditioning make your ride uncomfortable in this death trap. If you're having trouble spotting these, look at the windows inside these buses and look for the Japanese characters written on it. That's the one. It started life as an efficient transport in Japan and ends up in our country, corrupted to its core. I try to avoid these buses as much as possible.

3. The Chinese/Korean Express

- Now these are nice Chinese/Korean buses. I try to get a ride on these buses as much as possible because it's still brand new. It would be better if this would replace all those other ugly buses on the road, as these kinds of buses have sufficient lighting, reasonable seating, and have smooth running engines all because it's still new. The only problems it brings are those normally associated with our Philippine buses.

Now let's tackle the normal problems associated with these "road demons". Although the MMDA has already placed a Rapid Bus Transit System, these efforts are but a drop in the ocean. Traffic would still occur not because of normal cars going on the bus lane, but because buses will stop and pick up passengers at ANY point of the road, except in Makati during the day where they miraculously obey rules.

Next would be the regard for human life and the road. Buses will go at great speeds whenever possible and normally disobey regular traffic rules. Even if you are crossing the street as a pedestrian, these buses will try to beat you from crossing the street, thanks to their demonic speed on the road.

Now about that part when they pick up passengers. Drivers and conductors from what I've heard aren't paid monthly, rather by how much they've earned during their shift. This is the reason why they go beyond the passenger pick-up time of around 10 seconds and try to hoard as much passengers as they can. One time, I was riding this bus from Gil Puyat into Makati, and this rival bus company of theirs got angry when our bus "stole" a passenger from them by driving up next to it.

The conductor of the rival company was angered like a monkey and shouted profanities at our bus and threw an empty bottle of mineral water onto the bus body. Along the way those Japanese second hands break down a lot too, as I see discontent passengers behind their broken-down bus looking for another ride. It also broke down during Makati rush hour, of all times and places.

Alright, time to talk about solutions. Personally, I think there should be less bus franchises on the road, and with that the drivers and conductors would be paid more. With the eve of train transportation (which should be greatly expanded), there should be lesser buses on the road. Those second-hand buses gave me an idea when I saw these buttons by the windows. These buses eat up precious commuting time when they pick up passengers, so a button to nag the driver to hurry would be fun to implement.

It could be some sort of flashing light or voice directed at them to keep moving and stop what they're doing. This should penetrate the human mind, right? Well Filipinos are stubborn little buggers anyway, so let's wait and see what happens.

For now, we can only tolerate their shortcomings, but for how long? If we reduce these gargantuan coffins of iron on the road, our streets would decongest somehow.