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Friday, August 19, 2005
Roperos: Gasoline, gasoline
By Godofredo M. Roperos
Politics Also
There is no intent to be flippant in the title of this column. Thinking about the oil price increases, I recall what Shakespeare’s King Richard reportedly shouted when he tried to flee from the scene of battle and found himself without a horse.
“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse,” he purportedly cried. Now, wouldn’t that be funny when we eventually hear some car owners cry, “Gasoline, gasoline my car for gasoline”?
That cry, though, would be more ridiculous than funny. But it would work to the interest of proponents of a nation-wide program to save on gasoline and other petroleum products.
Besides, many financially well families have more than one car in their garage, so what’s the loss of one car to them? Indeed, why so many vehicles when one would really suffice for the needs of an average Cebuano family?
But some families do have more than two or three vehicles running in the city streets at some given time of the day or night. Their tasks include fetching the kids from school, fetching the husband from his office, and waiting for the missus from the beauty parlor, or from the mall.
But the same activities could really be accomplished without consuming any kind of oil fuel, like those being done by middle level families and below. They do these riding in taxis and public transport, as they can afford only these rides in accordance with their means.
I know of a new entrepreneurial venture whose collector does the job well on foot and by riding jeepneys since the firm cannot yet afford its own vehicle. It’s a matter of the collector’s patience and diligence really.
However, while the new firm is doing great, the situation may end soon. The firm is now negotiating to buy a multi cab, a normal aspiration of most starting businesses and working individuals as they rise in the profession.
But let us come down to basic realities. The rising cost of gasoline has become the bane of our public transport drivers. Not only are they not earning enough because of the transport operators’ constantly increasing rentals or “boundaries” but also because prices of basic commodities are moving up with the price of gasoline.
A jeepney driver said to me the other night that his daily earning of P150 after deducting the P400 rental and cost of gasoline is no longer enough to feed his family of three kids.
One taxi driver said that at the rate the cost of gasoline is rising, he may have to look elsewhere for an alternative source of livelihood. With gasoline expenses higher than the average rental of P700 to P800, how will they ever support their family?
The recent increase in fares did not really benefit the drivers of the estimated 5,000 taxi units on our city streets. Operators also hiked the daily rental by P50 to P60 to cover purportedly the cost of re-calibration, which was only P1,500 and could be recovered in only one month at P50 a day.
So, where is fairness? An average taxi driver must get at least P2,000 over a 24-hour stretch to be able to bring home to the family at least P200. Now, it’s the taxi drivers’ turn to cry, “Gasoline, gasoline…”
(August 19, 2005 issue)
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