*Jozzua Notes from a Business and Marketing Strategist/Tactician

How to get Around Metro Manila – Philippines

After posting How to get from Antipolo to Makati, I figured some people might want to know more about getting around in Metro Manila.
There is a brief overview from the WOW Philippines website. I thought I'd give you a more practical insight on how to get around here.

Say, for example, you were a tourist in Manila. You arrive at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and take a cab from the Airport to your hotel (which is really the safe, reasonable option, in my opinion). I assume you would go to either Makati City or Ortigas, Pasig City.

Or perhaps you are a balikbayan, who's been out of the country for quite a while and would like to find out if jeepneys are still around. Well, they still are but you do have more travelling choices these days.

What are your options? Well, depending on your budget and how fast you one to get from one place to another, you could basically take:

• A Taxicab
• Jeepney or Bus
• The train - Metro Rail Transit (MRT) or Light Rail Transit (LRT)

If you have the money, might as well take the cab to anywhere. From Glorietta, Makati to Ortigas, Pasig would probably be around P100-150. That's around US$ 2-3. Sometimes, taxi drivers expect you to 'round-up' your payment and don't give back change. For example, if your trip on the taxi meter was around P133, they'd expect you to pay P150 flat.

On other occasions, once you tell the taxi driver where you want to go, they will tell you a price that they would accept to take you there. Say, you're coming from a hotel and want to go to SM Megamall, they'd tell you up front.. "P200." Meaning, you pay flat P200 to take you there. Philippine law forbids this, but practicality sometimes dictates the situation.

If you are in a hurry, and there are no other modes of transport, P200 would seem cheap.

Sometimes the taxi drivers would say NO to you. They would decline to take you to your destination if they think it's too far.

What about Jeepneys and Buses?

You can generally ge
t from one end of Edsa to another by riding a Bus. From Caloocan, take the bus and go straight to Alabang or vice versa. You might even get into a bus with a TV and VHS! They'll show you some movie while you travel.

Jeepneys are all over metro manila. On the sides of the jeepneys are usually what route take take. For example, "COGEO-CUBAO" painted on the side of the jeep means they take the route from COGEO, ANTIPOLO to CUBAO, Quezon City and vice versa.

At present, the minimum jeepney fare is P7.50 (US$0.15) and go up to 30 pesos depending on where you get off. It is advisable to ask the driver how much a trip to a certain spot is before giving money. Jeepney drivers sometimes have a "conductor" seated just beside him. The conductor usually handles payments and passenger inquiries.

MRT/LRT

The MRT/LRT Trains are a more recent mode of transporation. Made in the recent decade, the trains provided a well-appreciated mass-transport system within the city. At present, there are three main tracks. One travels from SM City to Taft Avenue and along Edsa. The next one is from Monumento to Baclaran and the third route is from Recto to Santolan.

I recommend taking the trains when going from Makati to Ortigas and back. The Ayala Station in Makati is just a few minutes walk to the
Glorietta Mall . The Shaw boulevard station, very close to Ortigas, exits directly to Shangri-La Plaza Mall.

Well, I hope I've given you some practical insight on Metro Manila travel. Feel free to post questions.

For foreigners who would like to visit, you may also want to check out some of my suggested date places in Manila. These are places that I've visited and found noteworthy. You may also want to read