The Vice Guide to Travel - Philippines Jeepneys Part 1
Added: Nov 22, 2008
From: VBSdotTV
Duration: 3:35
To see Part 2 go to: http://www.vbs.tv/player.php?bctid=1112157282&bccl=NDcxODc0MzkwX19UUkFWRUw=In case you're a little fuzzy on your South Pacific history, here's a quick little primer on the complex state of Filipino-American relations in the early 40s from a fresh Swedish perspective: Americans wanted back what they rightfully owned by purchase, so they gathered a bunch of Filipino troops and chased out the Japanese. This was just a couple of months before a little device called The Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, thus ending WWII and warfare as it was known up until that point.A couple years later they decided/were forced to jam. Apart from the kids born out of soldierly love, the Americans also left their army supplies behind. It would have been more expensive to bring it back home, and anyways war as they knew it was over so who gave a hoot, right? Among the stuff they left floating around were the infamous Willys Jeeps. Even if you're a girl or hate the History Channel, if you've only ever seen one war movie or flipped past an episode of M*A*S*H you know exactly which vehicle I'm talking about.Metro Manila, with its estimated 18 million inhabitants, is a transportation nightmare the likes of which my spoiled Swedish brain cannot even begin to wrap itself around. I'll start getting mad at "the city" when it takes 20 minutes to take the train across town, but who do you get mad at when there are millions of busted down old Toyotas and overloaded scooters between you and the other side of the city? Apparently, if you're Filipino, you don't. You just take whatever car you've got, rip the roof off it, then flip the roof over and graft it to the back to double your carrying-capacity and call it a bus. This healthy attitude toward open-car surgery is what spawned the Jeepney and made it a mainstay of Manila's dusty network of roads. Wherever you are in the city, all you have to do is wave and one'll stop for you. They're the perfect blend of a taxi and a bus and they are really fucking cheap.As with cars in most parts of the world, completely tricking your buscab out soon became an essential part of the equation and you will rarely a Jeepney pass by that is not covered in layers of chrome and airbrushed paint, and filled with a disco's worth of party-lights. If you look close enough, you can sometimes even make out the influence of 50s American hot rods through the piles of Filipino insanity.
Channel: Travel
Rating: 4.56 (36 ratings) Views: 34838' favoriteCount='62 Comments: 25
v0ices Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - MANILA - Outraged over fuel price hikes the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) announced a series of protest marches, noise barrage and selective route strikes in preparation for a general strike December to dramatize 3 demands - government restrict the oil price hikes, scrap the 12-percent value-added tax (VAT) on oil products, and suspend the Oil Deregulation Law.
pentot21 Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - P.I. who said jeepneys are ugly? Papatayin kita!
kuskuspalo Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - the garbage trucks! lol. even flips don't do that buffoons!
tribalscene Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - stick to jeepneys nalang sana including bus,taxi,tricycle saka tadyak cab.eh nagsuluputan iba pang public transportation..sana they've developed an airconditioned jeepneys maintaining their standard body kits and boost safety capacity nila para sa mga safety concerns...i love jeepney because they are philippine innovations and hence a pride.putang ina nalang sa ayaw ng jeep...
winterfress Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - i want to import t a jeepney to here in NY.lol
garloks Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - hinde pwedi tol maging aircon ang jeep hinde siya long distance travel sakay baba tao . pangalawa mag aamoy utot kong sailed up sa aircon ang jeep patay lahat ang pasahero. ang masaya sa jeep kong katabi mo maganda na mabango he he he lalo na taga office he he he
TheTrueBlue24 Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - There ARE aircondition jeepneys already. But most of them are used as private vehicles :/
TheTrueBlue24 Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - airconditioned*** sry for the typo :P
bundangbear Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - To import a jeepney to NY with NY's emission standards would be impossible. They are such heavy polluters, but wonderful, amazing pieces of art. Check out my raw, unedited jeepney footage at bundangbear. Shot from the heart of Taft Avenue in Manila!
kyland4 Says:
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firstjohn47and8 Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - I rode a jeepney in the provinces. They weren't as ornate.
ampinoy13 Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - Jeepney. The ONLY way to travel in the province.
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Lisabonelady Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - The roofs of these Jeepneys are made too low. It makes them difficult and uncomfortable to get in and out. You often stand on people and almost certainly end up crushed against people in a clostrophobic and sweaty enviroment. If only they made the roof a foot higher, would that have been so difficult?
Malourin Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - The average Filipino is 5" tall, so we really did not have problems getting inside the jeepneys. You seat at once anyway and you can not stand on it, only in buses. Since Filipinos generally take a bath once or twice a day, we have no problems with sitting side by side or really cramped inside it. It promotes bonding,too.
Malourin Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - We had a British consultant way back in the 1980's to help us plan the Metro Manila Region. He said when he goes back to UK he will put a decorative horse like in our jeepneys in his BMW in London. My co workers are so amazed of my small jeepney on top of desk in my office.
pianne88 Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - to lisabonelady, remember that the safety handles of the jeepneys are also mounted to the ceilings, raising it a foot high or more will not let the sitting passangers to hold the safety handles
Nikko1Brown Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - Nice my dad owns a jeep and a jeepney in the San Carlos city in the Visayas
ehnriko Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - I really hate the ergonomics of the common Pinoy Jeepney... keep bumping my head on those overhead hand rails as well as the one at the end or the roof fan tail. My elbows also are always soring in pain as the keep hitting those tubes rails... This is merely an expression of a culture that craves for outside attention. Never mind whats inside... just keep the vain exterior at par with traditional norms... I hope someone would finance my concept of a modern ergonomic carnival.. er. jeepney.:)
diego122968 Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - I believe every culture craves for some sort of attention, first world nations are no exception. The motive of the economically capable elite to drive around beautiful cars are no different from driving around a decorated jeepney- one has to separate aesthetics from technological issues. Economics from Folk notions of art, middle class comfort from realities of developing nations, its not that simple my friend, the jeepney is a manifestation of a myraid of issues we have yet to address ;)
diego122968 Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - ehnriko-- good luck on your plans, any help to make a mass oriented public transportation economically, technologically, and environmentally more efficient is most welcome.
tagaEskinita Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - the big jeepneys are fine. its the smaller suzuki multi-cab jeepneys thats horrible. TOO SMALL.
geeq13 Says:
Nov 22, 2008 - There's hybrid jeepneys now and newly design ones...peace!