Commuting daily from the house in Bacoor, Cavite, to the Inquirer office in Makati by jeepney, bus, and tricycle costs only P76 and used to take roughly an hour’s travel.
But now it takes an average of two hours—add one hour if there’s a vehicular accident.
On bad traffic days, I while away the time fiddling with my phone, going over Facebook and Twitter posts—which tends to make me sleepy because of eyestrain.
I arrive in the office almost at dusk, prompting my editor to ask why I’m late.
To avoid the stress and boredom, I now usually book Grab or Uber, or, if these two are unavailable, hail a regular taxi and take the Skyway route, exiting to Amorsolo, left to Ayala and straight on to South Avenue before passing through the side streets leading to Chino Roces Avenue—which costs around P300 but gets me to the office in an hour or so.
I don’t dare go home immediately, say, 10 p.m. on light working days, because traffic along Buendia, Roxas Boulevard and Coastal Road can still be heavy.
So, I opt to visit bars and clubs, have a few drinks and watch live gigs, which is part of my work anyway.
I end up getting home around 3 a.m.—when the cab speeds along Edsa like bygone days, as the driver says, “Ganitong oras lang maluwag ang trapik.”