Worse than a Can of Sardines

“Mas maswerte pa ang mga sardinas…” (Sardines had it better). This is what my mind exclaims every time I had to ride the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) train to go to the main office. When you ride the MRT, especially if you decide to stand near the doors (to make it easy for me to go out when I reach my destination), you will be crushed and you will feel uneasy throughout the whole trip.

In the past four work days, my boss sent me to a training in the main office in Taguig. To reach the main office from my home, I had to ride the MRT from the North EDSA station then go down the Guadalupe Station.

Riding on North EDSA is just fine. You only need to wait for 15 minutes lining up and edging other commuters up to the platform entrance.

The problem comes when you reach Kamuning, Cubao, and Santolan Stations where the agitated and now impatient commuters will push those already are inside the train so that they too could ride and reach their office on time.

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Inside the MRT (Recycled photo).

That experience made me think that I will never ever want to be assigned in the main office. I would rather outwit and outrun other commuters to the buses going to Quiapo.

Morning Rush and Evening Madness

Going to workplace is a challenge for me every single day. First, I must make sure that I wake up at the right time so that I will not be late for work. Next is to pray that the jeepney (a.k.a Philippine bus) that I will be riding from my home to Quezon City will not malfunction or will not experience any delays. Lastly, I have to deal with this scenario:
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People rushing to their workplace and school.

There are so many people that I have to outwit and outrun in reaching the bus that still have seats available. If I am unlucky, then I have to settle in standing from Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City to Lawton in Manila.
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The story is the same during the evening when people are rushing back to their homes after long day of work. People are outwitting and outrunning one another just to reach the bus that will take them home. Unfortunately, the Pinoy and Pinay workers have to endure the heavy traffic that is tens of kilometers long and usually takes more than an hour.
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Heavy traffic in Cubao area.

Of course, to avoid the heavy traffic, the people could choose to ride the trains. However, riding the train is also a sort of a hellish experience.
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Crowded MRT.

These are my daily challenge during the whole work week. These are one of the reasons why I am very tired whenever Friday comes.

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