Jeepney driver forced to have a second job, set for a third

FILE PHOTO: Public utility jeepneys plying the road. Photo by Joanna Rose Aglibot

MANILA, Philippines — Since he started working as a driver in 2004, Salvador Bernardo always begins his day at around 5:30 a.m., carrying passengers in his jeepney between Projects 2 and 3 in Quezon City and Quiapo and Taft Avenue in Manila.

He made five roundtrips and ended his day around 7 p.m., parking his jeepney at his sister-in-law’s garage in Quezon City before heading back to his family in Marikina.

When the pandemic struck in early 2020, he stopped working. After public transportation was allowed to resume operation, he got other drivers to drive his jeepney, collecting P500 per day from them under the “boundary” system.

To augment his earnings from his jeepney, the 40-year-old driver—Andy to his friends and relatives—started working as a food delivery rider using his own motorcycle in November last year.

He told the Inquirer that when the last driver left in February because of the rising cost of fuel, he had to take over plying the Quezon City-Manila route.

These days, he still does five round trips a day, making P450 to P500 per trip, or a gross daily earning of P2,250 to P2,500.

Nighttime deliveries

After deducting expenses for fuel and meals, he is left with only P50 net per trip, or about P250 daily. This is a drastic drop from the P1,800 to P1,900 he said he used to earn as both driver and operator before the pandemic.

Bernardo is luckier than other drivers who do not own jeepneys. Still, he has to work harder than before, spending almost 24 hours a day as a jeepney driver and a delivery man.

“In these trying times, we really need to do everything because prices of basic goods and oil are rising fast and what I, as a jeepney driver, am earning a day, is not enough for these prices,” he told the Inquirer.

His motorcycle, thankfully, is giving him an opportunity to make extra money.

After parking his jeepney and taking a brief rest, he makes nighttime deliveries for GrabFood and Lalamove, earning an additional P250 to P300 at the end of the day.

He said he is expecting to start working for the motorcycle taxi service Angkas next week.

‘Double, triple time’

On weekends and Tuesdays, when he rests his jeepney, Bernardo works full time as delivery rider. He makes about P1,100 to P1,200 on those days and spends around P200 for motorcycle fuel, leaving the remainder for the household needs of his wife and four children.

His eldest child, his 19-year-old daughter is now in her second year in college, studying financial management. His 18-year-old daughter is graduating from senior high school and will start college soon.

“I need to work double, triple time. I don’t want my children not to finish their studies like me,” Bernardo said. “I need to give them their right to study in school, even if it means that I would only sleep two to three hours a day.”

Challenges

His wife is making some money selling cooked meals online, he said.

Even though he is faced with these challenges, Bernardo said he was ready to push himself to the limit just for his family.

Bernardo said he was already thinking of just working full time as a delivery rider to have a steady income if his earnings from driving his jeepney would just be eaten up by the fuel price hikes.

Bernardo is just one of many drivers who are contemplating switching jobs amid the soaring prices of petroleum products.

Gov’t subsidy

Some drivers and operators are relying on the P6,500 fuel subsidy from the government, although transport groups are saying that the amount is not enough to help them grapple with the growing burden of rising fuel costs.

Petitions had been lodged in the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to raise the minimum jeepney fare from P9 to P10 to P15.

Bernardo does not believe that a minimum fare hike is a long-term solution.

“What they need to do, for me, is to have these huge fuel taxes suspended. It would ease our problems with these rising gas prices,” he said.

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