On driving in Manila

One of the pitfalls of big city life is the traffic. Manila is worse than most from what I can gather. Granted, my limited experience in New York City was not pretty either, but I never had to drive in New York City. I don't drive much in Manila - I live that to our trusty driver/lawn guy. But on Sundays and late at night I will do my own driving. And it is terrible. It is always stop and go traffic. If you leave more than 3 feet in front of you, someone is going to cut you off and wedge their way in front of you. The brakes business must be doing quite well here, because everyone is constantly speeding up and braking.

What makes it so much worse than regular, everday American traffic? After a few months of noodling, here is my analysis:

1. Civil engineers must be in short supply, because the roads are designed horribly. It is almost impossible to turn left at any intersection. And most intersections forbid U-turns (though most people ignore this). To turn left you usually have to do a combination of right turns and U-turns to get going in the direction you need to go. Sometimes you can drive for miles before getting the U-turn you need.

2. Not enough working lights. Stop lights that are out are pretty common. In fact, there is a stop light in front of the Embassy but it does not work. So the embassy employs a team of police officers to stop traffic when anyone needs to turn left into the Embassy.

3. There are no bus stops. Most people use public transportation, in the form of jeepneys, tricycles (more on this below), taxis and buses. Unfortunately, there are no designated bus stops. There are a handful of areas that are labeled "No Loading/Unloading" but people just ignore these. So buses and jeepneys are constantly stopping to pick people up. Buses will swerve over several lanes if it seems someone hailing it. This is quite hazardous, though they usually can't swerve very fast since traffic is not moving that fast. On major roads, the right hand two lanes are reserved for buses and jeepney pickups, leaving only one or two lanes for regular traffic. Often times, people are just standing in those two lanes, so no traffic can proceed. Occasionally, there will be swarms of people on market day just filling the streets as in the picture below. We were only caught in this once, on our way to church when we got totally lost.



4. No one respects lanes. There are usually lane lines painted on the roads, though sometimes there are not. However, everyone ignores them. If there are four lanes on the road, the cars will form 6 lanes. These informal lanes constantly form and then dissolve, depending on the narrowing or broadening of the road. People often don't even respect the center of the road. I have been on many 4 lane roads (2 in each direction) where one of the lanes was going the wrong way.

5. Vendors are everywhere. You know how sometimes you find a guy selling flowers or newspapers on a major intersection in the US? Well, the guys here are at every intersection, selling everything imaginable - drinks, towels, halloween costumes, newspapers, popcorn - it is never the same. This has got to slow traffic down.

6. The motorcycles. There are many motorcycles that love to weave through stopped traffic. No one gives motorcycles the benefit of a lane. In fact, when I was back in San Diego I drove right up next to a motorcycle in his lane and then thought - maybe he would like some space here. Many deliveries (including McDonald's, Wendy's, pizza, etc.) are made by motorcycle. Jeffrey and Laird love to go examine the motorcycles if we ever order delivery. All the motorcycles definitely add to the bedlam.

A side note on vehicles in the Philippines. Mercifully, there are no 18-wheelers. However, buses are everywhere, and they are very aggressive. Being big and having lots of people, they command the respect of everyone on the road. Next in the pecking order are jeepneys. These are modified World War II vehicles which have two long benches in the back where the people sit sideways to the direction of the vehicle. The only entrance for passengers is in the very back. People often hang on the back, and in a pinch will even ride on top (as pictured below). I have hung on the back of many jeepneys for long rides (half hour or so) but never ridden on top. Without people on top, you can usually fit around 25 people on a jeepney. The embassy forbids us to ride in them. They are always brightly colored (usually to the point of being ridiculously ugly). The one pictured below is typical.



Private vehicles and taxis are prevalent, and the lowest form of transportation is the tricycle. Tricycles are motorcyles with side cars. There is usually a roof for the motorcycle as well, as pictured below.



In my missionary days, I would ride on tricycles all the time. They are great at getting to remote parts of town that jeepneys or buses don't service. Capacity is also good. The side car usually has a seat with its back to the driver and then a main seat which can fit two smaller people (total of three in the side car). Then two people can sit on the motorcycle behind the driver, and another two can hang on the back. Some have a nifty fold out stand that people can stand on the back (as shown below). You can also have one person stand with feet inside the side car, holding on to the side. Total capacity of 9 if you include the driver. It's better than a minivan.



Thank you for joining me on this tour of Manila. Be thankful for Interstate highways, smooth, vendor-free roads and traffic that obeys predictable rules. You can also see why we haven't made it out of Manila yet (the traffic to get out is terrible), but we plan to leave for a beach trip sometime this month.