Franz Nichole A.

Salomon
Title: Technology Then vs Now: What is the importance of this new technology
to me?

Transportation is a big part of our day-to-day life. Filipinos use different

combination of public and/or private transportation for travelling to work,
school, malls or vacation spots. However, the Philippines’ public transportation
system is significantly unreliable and inconvenient. Traffic jam, trains’ frequent
unexpected unloading, fully occupied jeeps, buses and trains and taxis who
charge unfairly are daily experienced by Pinoy commuters. Particularly, during
holidays, salary pay days or weekends, our public transportation and roads
are in complete chaos. Hence, it brings a lot of stress to commuters,
especially to those who travel from their province to metro manila for their
school or work. It consumes majority of their time and energy.

To avoid the stress in public transportation, the solution before is to ride a taxi
that does have meter system. However, taxis have several issues that
prevents commuter to choose them as a mode of transportation. First, taxi
drivers have an unreliable metering system. There are multiple times shown in
the news that some drivers hack the electronic system of the metering to show
a larger amount fee in the digital display. Also, during traffics or far driving
destinations, some of the taxi driver ask for an unfair additional charge on the
amount from the meter. Due to these circumstances, conflict between the
driver and customer frequently arises.

Most taxi drivers also do not know the direction of the customer’s destination,
or worse, they know the direction, but they tell the customer that they don’t
know the location to prolong the travel time and increase the meter fare
amount. Another problem in riding a taxi is security. Some commuters do not
trust now the taxis because of the several holdups and sexual harassments
happened in the pasts.

In the recent years, newly commercialized mobile application-based ride

sharing services like Grab or Angkas allow commuters to ride a convenient
private car or motorcycle in just a few taps in a smartphone. Though, it may be
costly compared to taxi, it is still a better choice because of its features. It
solves a lot of the problems and concerns of the customer in riding a taxi.
First, the security problem of taxi is solved by these mobile apps. In these
apps, once a driver accepted their booking, the customer will be notified by
the driver’s full name, car model and color, and place. Because of this feature
that initially gives customer the driver’s personal information, the driver will be
now hesitant to do anything offensive or illegal to the customer. Secondly, a
customer feedback system is integrated in the app where the customers can
give to the driver a ‘1 to 5 stars’ to rate the riding service. This encourages
drivers to be nicer, drive safer and smoother.

A third feature that makes these mobile applications a better choice is the
readily shown calculated fare. It is shown immediately once the customer set
their pick-up point and destination. Because it is initially calculated and shown,
the fare amounts will not result to conflicts or unfair charges compared. In
addition, your destination is displayed in the app with its direction for both on
the customer and driver’s phone. This avoids the tedious process for the
driver of finding the right and fastest direction going to your destination.

Lastly, using these apps give a customer an easier and faster access for a
ride compared to taxis. There are now many drivers who use these apps. In
just a few minutes you’ll find a driver around your area of picking point. The
drivers can’t choose who they want to accept, and also, they can’t cancel
booking because it will affect their performance in their company. On the other
hand, most taxis ignore riding requests when they think that your destination is
far or the way going to your destination is traffic.

Indeed, in most situations, app-based riding services can bring a lot more
convenience and security in commuting. Using these apps helped me to save
enough time and energy for working and bonding with my family. Hence,
even though these apps are more expensive than taxi, their advantages make
them a better option for my day-to-day commuting.