Kissing taxi rides goodbye

I commute, everyday. If I am lucky, I get to hitch with friends. But more often than not, I take a jeepney ride home or if I can find someone to split the cab fare with, I take a taxi ride to the nearest place where a shuttle service terminal is. I was not born with a silver spoon. Don't be deceived by the fact that I graduated from an exclusive university. My family was able to afford it because my mom invested in an educational plan with the remittance my dad was sending us while he worked as a bartender in a cruise ship where he eventually met a girl and left us. Whatever school fees my scholarship did not cover was paid with the help of my supportive relatives. Yes I grew up with household helpers but not because my mom was too lazy to look after us but because she had to work. No I was not an english-speaking child, I may have a good command of the english language, maybe because I got into reading at an early age, with books that I borrow from classmates. We are not rich, comfortable yes, but there are times we also struggle to make ends meet.

Numerous facebook posts on incidents involving commuters like me disheartens me. Stories of taxi drivers working in connivance with holduppers, taking everything and forcing you to surrender your atm cards together with the security codes, taking all that is of value and leaving you in an unfamiliar place. Consider yourself lucky if they will not sexually assault you.

I take taxi rides not because I do not want to squeeze myself in an over-crowded bus but because I have had a long day at work and I probably don't have enough energy left to stand in a bus for at least an hour. I take taxi rides because I can not afford to buy a car. I take taxi rides because I do not know how to drive and even if we do have a family car, only my mom who will turn 60 years old soon is available to pick me up. Taxi riders are not from the elite, they are from the working class, who punches their timecards and takes orders from bosses. 

I'm not trying to say that the target for crimes like these should be those who are uber rich. My point is, those who take taxi rides are taxpayers and I hope that the government can help keep the streets safe for the riding public. Until then, I guess I will have to really save some energy for that bus ride.