Commute in Metro Manila

You might have heard how beautiful the Philippines is from different articles, travel blogs/vlogs, promotional videos, friends, etc., and it truly is. Being a Filipino myself, I always have been and will be proud of the beauty of my country. The food, the people, the tropical weather, the beaches, the culture, everything is full of life and is very immersive.

Though, as much as it is beautiful, you will also dread the commute here, specifically in the country's capital, Metro Manila.

Ugh.

As someone who grew up in the provinces of the Philippines I was used to wide roads and traffic-free commute. As I transferred here in the big city, as much as I love the robustness and the life of the city, I hated commuting in it.

One of the main reasons why is because the commute system here in Metro Manila is very bad. Let me explain why. The main city road, EDSA, is the most travelled highway in the city. In weekends, traffic usually is not heavy but on weekedays, specially on rush hours, it would take 1 hourto travel a supposedly 15 min. travel had it not been traffic-ridden. The buses that travel along EDSA are old and sometimes broken. Also, the train system called MRT3 that is usually used by daily commuters are always packed and have long lines. I have literally experienced once that I had to push my self so that I might be able to get in since 4 trains already passed me and I was already tired from work.

But despite this, the government is already on its way to solving the traffic problem and the train system's faults. They've started to implement better coding schemes that will somehow alleviate traffic and had the trains of MRT repaired so as to avoid unloading of passengers when during breakdowns.

Progress has been seen so far and I am still loving the metro life - just not the commute. Haha! I hope you all can visit my country and when you do, I wish the commute system is already better.