Manila is 3rd Worst for Traffic? (Are you sure it's not the worst?)

Behind the friendly smiles and helpful nature of Filipinos that "others" see, the real truth can't be hidden. I recently read an article about Manila and what's behind the silly smile of Filipinos (Read: Behind the silly smile is a sad sad nation)

Quoting from that article,

Filipinos smile because they don’t want the world to know that they’re suffering. If the world does know, Filipinos will only get more questions as to why, and the truth will eventually come out that most of the time, their suffering is the consequence of their own stupidity. Filipinos go out of their way to help foreigners because most of the time, they’re looking to get a sort of monetary reward or some sort of “favor” for their “troubles”. 

How locals treat foreign visitors is not a definitive basis of how rude they are as a people. Watch how they treat each other, and their environment, and you get a much better idea.

Yes, the problem is with the people themselves. Not how Filipinos treat foreigners but how they treat each other. Case in point, as simple as traffic, we can almost top the list. Travel and lifestyle website CNN Go, cited that Manila is the 3rd worst place to drive in the world. Some of the few reasons on why: Traffic congestion, air pollution, garbage collection, flood control and the need for security.



Why is Manila traffic very bad?
It's really sad to see how undisciplined and uncivilized people can be, specially some of those unruly buses, jeeps and pedicab can be. This is one of the main reasons why Manila traffic is bad. Just last month, we visited a new mall in Manila called the Lucky Chinatown Mall. Since it was a Sunday and it's a new mall, I agreed to go there for a meeting and check the place out. Everything went well until we left the mall. At the back exit, there were no clear signs as to where to go to reach the main road (parking entrance to the mall is along Reina Regente and exit is at the back)/ There were one-ways so I just went where the others went and then, traffic hell started.

From Meisic, we turned right to Juan Luna. There were 3 lanes in Juan Luna. It's made for 2 lanes but the jeeps are so good in squeezing in spaces where there are spaces. The street is full of jeepneys! The orange line is the route we went through and the route you should never ever take. ever. (Orange route travel time: 2 hours)

After crossing the bridge along Juan Luna, the 3 lanes were now funneled into one lane. There were stalls to the left and right of us, with hundreds of people literally walking by. It's like Mongkok night market but you squeeze in one lane worth of vehicle among all the busy shoppers.

Stalls to the left and right

You'll hear people literally swipe their bags and accessories to your car. You can actually shop just by rolling down your window but that would be very dangerous. There are no rules here and you'll see why in a bit.

It took us 1 hour to move from the exit of the Lucky Chinatown mall, down Juan Luna to the corner of Recto. That route is just 400 meters long.

Later on, we were wondering what the cause of this heavy traffic was. We were thinking that there might be some kind of freak accident to cause this heavy traffic. We later found out that the passenger jeeps going through this route won't leave if they are not full. So imagine, all the jeeps in front of us should be filled before they move! Wow.

Want to see an evidence? Here's a video I took that time.


I will never go back to that mall nor will I attempt to pass that traffic hell route. These jeeps and their barkers (The guy in white, responsible for filling the jeep and getting passengers) are selfish and undisciplined. They don't care even if you press your horn. In that area, you wouldn't even dare doing that because of their b@d@ss attitude. This is why the Philippines is sloooow in terms of development. This is why the Philippines is what it is right now -- because of people like them. Thanks to them, we are nearing the top of the list.

CNN Go, 3rd worst traffic in the world? You haven't experienced this yet.

Cheftonio
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