Last week was a crazy one for this almost daily MRT user. A train breakdown caused a one-hour delay last Wednesday. I was stuck at the Ayala MRT platform waiting for the imbeciles who run the light rail line to fix the now-proverbial defective train. The same thing happened last Friday, albeit with a more merciful delay. In between the two days I chanced upon a rush-hour debacle, I read about a malfunction in the rail switching system at the North Avenue station. Again, train operations were severely hampered for around an hour.
The crowning glory of my week-long bad luck with the MRT was last Saturday. I had a 9:00 AM class in Makati. To get there in time, I left the house at around 7:30 AM, just to be able to board the train at approximately 8:00 AM. But lo and behold, another breakdown greeted my weekend! For a good fifteen minutes, the patrons of the crowded line waited in vain for a train. When the barely-audible speakers announced "STOP ENTRY!" to the security personnel manning the turnstiles, I knew that something was wrong. Then, the same raspy voice informed the agitated weekend users that the incoming trains will reach only up to the Shaw Boulevard Station.
For the third time in four days, the notoriously crowded MRT threw a monkey wrench into my well-oiled schedule!
Being the experienced commuter that I am, I calculated my options. It was around 8:20 AM when the MRT guys made the damning announcement. I had forty friggin' minutes to get to the Central Business District in time for my class. I made my way down the Kamuning Station, greeted by the sight of several Ayala-bound buses. I knew better than to ride those hulking, crawling behemoths. The fastest - and most comfortable - bus to Makati is none other than the fancily-colored Mannrose buses.
I got to my class on the dot.
Unless our populist government slash a significant portion of the billions of Pesos it spends subsidizing the train line, the MRT shall always be packed to the brim. The PHP 15 fare is just way too horrendously cheap compared to the PHP 35 (on average) bus fares; hence, it attracts hordes of commuters. In my opinion, the government should decrease a significant chunk of the subsidy.
Why in the hell should the Filipino taxpayer shoulder the brunt of an easier and cheaper commute for the Metro Manila resident? Doing so is a Manila-centric view on things and signifies everything that is wrong with this country. I say down with the subsidies. Spend it on something more meaningful, like rural electrification and building schools in impoverished Mindanao.
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