Abstract
Metropolitan Manila has become the world’s ‘worst’ in terms of its traffic scenarios and such crisis left an impact to the commuters which has led to the emergence of the modern Filipino commuting culture. The ethnography utilized covert participant observation in which the researchers immersed themselves in the culture and experience the activities of the commuting culture. They also conducted personal and synchronous interview to the participants involved. The findings of the study are summarized through five emergent themes which represent the roots of the culture’s existence, the commuters’ preferences on public transit modes, the features of Metro Manila commuting experiences, the coping mechanisms and adjustments done by commuters, and the desires and decisions for commuting experiences, respectively. Also, the mentioned culture reflected the Filipino values such as patience, crab mentality, and the misused value of resilience. The findings ended with a concrete recommendation to establish an Internet-based platform for Metro Manila commuters and a summary report intended for public transport stakeholders and public officials.
Highlights
Once dubbed the ‘worst’ of the globe, Metro Manila has never escaped its tremendous issue on traffic
The recorded data included the collation of information that reflects responses from the commuting students and workers alike, public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers, and observations of the Manila-based public transportation terminals, design of public transportation system, rail and road traffic management system
- Insufficiency of PUVs, inefficient public transit system and ineffectiveness of the policies on road, traffic management and transport are all precursors of the current state of the modern Filipino commuting culture
Summary
Once dubbed the ‘worst’ of the globe, Metro Manila has never escaped its tremendous issue on traffic. In an evaluation made by Waze, a world-used traffic and navigation application, the metropolitan area became the world’s ‘worst’ in terms of traffic management last 2015 (Hegina, 2015). Further transport studies in the recent decade presented Metro Manila as one of the cities with such world traffic status [1][2]. In a Boston-based study commissioned by the ride-sharing company Uber, it was revealed that individuals plying at Metro Manila spend the third longest average time being stuck in traffic every day in Asia, which is at 66 minutes [1]. Commuters report the usual health effects of traffic such as tired muscles, mental stress, and some respiratory ailments including cough and asthma brought by the metropolitan environment as influenced by the traffic [3][4][5]. A thorough 2014 report from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) approximates that the worth of economic loss due to the Metro Manila traffic crisis has reached 2.4 billion pesos last 2012 [6]
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