Jeepneys have been more of a menace than transporting vehicles in the roads of Metro Manila

Jeepneys should be phased out in the Metro because its one of the main causes of pollution and disorientation in every road of the city.

With its poor window attachment and backdoor-lacking design, it gives the passengers health inconvenience because the smoke infiltrating the air outside would likely  invade their lungs. According to the 2007 joint report of the World Bank and the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources, poor air quality kills about 5,000 people in Metro Manila every year . The too-open design of jeepneys also causes unwanted danger to people riding to its services. We are all aware that there have been countless incidents wherein the passengers are harassed and hold-upped which only proves that this public vehicles safety is in a very poor taste. Its also one of the vehicles that releases severe smoke in the air that damages not only the city’s environment but the ozone layer.

A large number of jeepneys are rolling on the high ways of Metro Manila which affects the city’s flow of traffic than any other vehicle. Jeepneys defy systemic approaches to developing efficient mass transit in Philippine cities and have become eyesores wherever they turn empty lots and even streets into de facto terminals. A conscious effort on the part of jeepney drivers and owners to induce loud rumbling noises from their mufflers whenever they rev their machines turns the metropolis into a seething cauldron which is an assault on the senses.

People are better off taking other public vehicles because jeepneys are very uncomfortable to anyone’s back. Trains and buses are more convenient for passengers. They are air-conditioned, the seats are nicer and you don’t have to worry about the ravaging pollution outside.

On the other hand, some people would prefer riding in jeepneys for a practical reason that it offers the cheapest fare despite its dismal level of service. If ever these jeepneys would be phased out, it would likely affect the marginalized group of people in the Metro, not to mention the jeepney drivers who would loose their jobs.

It’s true that the jeepney fare is cheaper than any other vehicle, but you can’t trade good health and safety for a few peso amounts. The government would sure have a plan for people who’d be affected with the outcome of banning jeepneys in Metro Manila.

Jeepneys have been more of a menace than transporting vehicles in the high ways of Metro Manila. If they would all be phased out, we will be spared from pollution, felons and nerve-wrecking Third-World traffic that eats the whole city for a lot of years. E-jeepneys have been said to replace the old jeepneys but it’ll still take time before it’ll venture the roads of Metro Manila. The government should hurry the process of powering the E-Jeepney plan because the city needs to breathe with the right wheels. The government just has to make sure that if this will be done, the commuters should not be troubled with fare costs and the people who would loose jobs would get an alternative living.