my love of cabs and my fail at lent

I'm posting about my love affair to taxi cabs also known as my shameless katamaran to take public transport and learning to drive.

FYI

In Metro Manila...(not sure about Baguio, Cebu, Davao...the only other places I know that have taxis)

flag down rate is P40 and then P3.50 every succeeding 250 meters or 2 minutes idle time.

In the world the Philippines rank fairly among those with the cheapest taxi fares. A little over that of Delhi, Mumbai, Cairo and La paz, Bolivia. On the expensive end of the list would be Zurich, Oslo, Tokyo to name a few. (source) Imagine a P100(Manila) to a P1200 (Zurich) price difference for the same length of travel. Oh, Lord! Mental note not to take ANY cab ride in the whole of Europe no matter what. Assuming I get to go to Europe in the first place. Haha

I chose that airport taxi picture because airport taxi rates are way more expensive as I guess is the norm in any part of the world(?) I think flag down is P70 then P4 for every 200m. I only had one experience with those yellow airport taxis. Cost me P650 from the airport to where I live. Despite people saying it was fairly okay, that still makes me sad. Haha. It took P200 same distance taking a regular white one.

Anyways, so what's this 'love affair' with taxi thingy?

Don't get me wrong, I am a patron of public transport. Provided that it functions at its best I don't mind taking it. In fact what i love most about Singapore is their transport system even if I had experienced 2 train mishaps that caused delay (big deal among the locals, we Filipino tourists didn't mind at all haha) If only I could say the same for the Philippines...

Ironically I take public transport day in day out. I ride a jeep to where I'm going to take a fx or van to work, then walk. Going home I take a jeep to the MRT station, ride the MRT, walk to the LRT station, ride the LRT then take again fx ride home. On tamad days I go to work same way but I alight at Kalayaan and ride a taxi to work from there. Practically because it takes less time to travel. Taxi fare for that small stretch is ~P100

Imagine if I refrain from being tamad, I get to save P500 a week P2000 a month!

I've realized that long before. In fact I made it a Lenten sacrifice last year of which I was successful. I wanted to do the same this year, but with my unpredictable schedule it gets harder. For one, I take the cab going to places I haven't been to regularly. I took the cab all the time when I was job hunting. You can imagine the cost, I was on welfare c/o parents that time. I like the donya idea of just hopping in and waiting to alight to exactly where you are going. Especially when I'm all made up, in formal clothes and uncomfy dressy shoes. You might figure, I don't like driving too. I once told my parents, I'll take the car if I can afford to hire a driver. Although sometimes I like the liberating idea of being anywhere you want to be. Then I think about high fuel costs and parking stress, ergo back to loving the cabs.

I really have to stop taking the cab everywhere. That or I really have to work harder (earn better) to afford taking one all the time.

As of this post I failed my lenten sacrifice by 6 times. ^_^

It's just day 4 of Lent. What a fail. Add to that I ate burger and chicken on a friday. The burger was a missed thought the chicken though I was aware of but made an excuse that it is 'white meat'. Based on what I reviewed chicken is not allowed, only fish/seafood is.

I'm really feeling bad about this Lent. I feel such a failure. But then again it's just day 4. I have 36 more days to make up for it. So this lent I'd still refrain from taking a cab to work, which means I should always be earlier or less late-r (lols). No meat on fridays including chicken and if possible no rice. Keep up with the charity pledge. I hope I get to the 'food for the needy' thing I was thinking of. And i have to pray more, go to church more often and just be extra extra nice whatever it takes and despite all circumstances.

If you think of or have known me as a 'good' person, I want to feel worthy of that again. Because on the past couple of years I was really a disappointment even to my low-expectation self. And so let the mantra be : BIDA BEST (abscbn)

ending the post with that lol because if not I might take the cab again to where I'm going. I refuse, so tata y'all!