A few weeks ago me and my son AJ were riding the jeepney. When we got inside, there were just a few people. Slowly on the way to our destination pretty much almost all the seats were filled. But in between our destination a well dressed lady hopped in. She sat next to me. I kind of liked it because she’s totally clean, I could still see that she just showered, her hair still wet. (Talking about being observant, ha ha ha). Anyway, I really got interested with her because I liked her blouse. I was thinking that the style of it really fitting good with Jean. I was trying to see the name tag of the blouse. Ha ha ha. Easy to see since she’s sitting a little bit off the seat due to the little space left. Half of her bottom was sitting off the edge of the seat. I was really trying to give her space as much as I could but failed. Lots of us were bigger than the size they intended for the seat.
Just like a mile or so down the road, she was knocking on the jeepney roof alerting the driver that she wanted to get off. That jeepney that we’re riding doesn’t have a conductor. So the driver just rely on the honesty of the passengers. So when she got off, I was thinking I never saw her handing her fare to the driver. So on our way to our destination I was trying recalling if the lady paid her fare. I didn’t remember her handing her money to me to pass on to the driver. I would have seen it if she paid because I was next to her. So after we got off, I asked Aaron if she remembered the lady right across from him. He said yes. I asked him did he remember seeing the lady pay or even handing her fare to anybody. Aaron said nope. I guess my son was also observing the lady. Hey, who would not, she’s an attractive lady and maybe just a few years older than Aaron (I hope AJ won’t see my post, he would not like it what I said. ). We really are positive that she didn’t pay. But too late to let the lady know.
It really got me thinking after that if the driver will get a lot of dishonest or forgetful passengers everyday, that would really cut way back on their income per day. P8 fare for a short ride, really the jeepney fare depends on the distance of your travel. What if that person travel from one end to the other end of the journey. Some fares here cost P25. Most of the jeepney don’t have conductor. That definitely cuts big time on their income.
I didn’t really think about it when my niece was telling me about it before. But when seeing it with my very own eyes, it’s almost like a mouth dropping thing. I remember a few months ago when hopping in the jeepney. As soon as I sat down the passengers and the conductor were talking about one of the passenger didn’t pay and she was asking for her change. The conductor gave the change thinking that the change goes to the person next to that lady. Well, that lady got off the jeepney after getting the money. Right before I hop-in the lady next to that lady that got off asked the conductor for her change. The conductor told her that I already gave you the change. Everybody then realized that the lady took the change from the conductor.
Honestly, maybe the lady forgot to pay her fare. Can you imagine if lots of passengers forget to pay the driver for the fare? I mean the driver really tried very hard to earn money for that day for his family. Most of them have several kids that go to school. I think that is something for everyone to think about now. Take out the change as soon as you get in the jeepney. If not feel like paying right away, hold on to the change until your destination and pay then. Some scams are going on right now too on the jeepney. My niece told me about it: That some passengers if you pass the money to them, they pretended then to the driver that it’s them that paid the fare. Most of those crooks sit at the back of the driver. Scam everywhere I guess.
Cheers!