God bless the P2P

I am old enough to remember taking the Love Bus, which was perhaps the only thing associated with Imelda Marcos that I truly appreciated. It was clean, air-conditioned, took only as many passengers as could be seated, and the drivers played the tape of the Carpenters over and over during the ride. If you needed to get to your destination looking fresh and neat and in the right mood without having to pay for a cab, the Love Bus was it.

Maybe I already had another means of transport, or, being Imelda’s creation, I decided to boycott it, but I don’t remember why I stopped using the Love Bus, and why it stopped operating. But it was a really good idea.

While the Love Bus was a convenience offered at a time when traffic was light and the air in Manila was relatively clean, today’s P2P or point-to-point buses, a 21st century reincarnation of the Love Bus, are a necessity in a city characterized by pollution and gridlock. Not too many people seem to be aware of them yet, but P2P buses have been plying EDSA, NLEX, SLEX, Ortigas, Commonwealth, Katipunan, C-5, and other routes, for many months now, providing commuters an alternative to the MRT, LRT, Grab, taxicabs and other PUVs, or using their own cars. The buses are large, air conditioned, offer free wifi, tv, reclining seats, and a reserved section for seniors, pregnant women and PWDs. And they run strictly on schedule.

When I have to go to Makati from Loyola Heights, I take the P2P at the UP Town Center from where it leaves every half hour from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., and every hour from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The fare is P100 but being a senior entitled to a senior discount, I pay only P80. With the morning traffic, it takes an hour and 45 minutes to Makati, but the ride back mid-afternoon can take only an hour or less.

Sometimes, when the timing is right, it can be a quick roundtrip. I once took the P2P in Katipunan at 9 a.m. to pick up a check in Makati. Arriving in Glorietta 3 at 10:30, I walked briskly across Greenbelt to the Asian Institute of Management on Paseo de Roxas, picked up my check, used the toilet, and walked quickly back to Glorietta, where I caught the 11 a.m. bus back to UP Town Center where I met friends for lunch at 12 noon. 

There is also a P2P called Ube Express that makes it easier for travelers to catch their flights with service from Cubao to NAIA, for P100. I once had to meet a friend in the airport area for coffee before his flight to San Francisco And I wasn’t willing to pay top rates using Grab. So I took the Ube Express in Cubao, along with travelers and their luggage, at one pm. We were in NAIA 3 in 45 minutes. I crossed to my friend’s hotel across the street, using the airconditioned overhead walkway. Later, I walked back to NAIA 3 where an Ube Express was waiting, for my ride back to Cubao. It was still rather slow due to evening traffic on EDSA, but it was cheap, convenient, and comfortable.

The P2P makes so much sense in a crowded metropolis where commuters need a viable alternative to jeepneys, buses and the MRT. I only wish the buses had toilets because sometimes the aircon can be too cold, and the ride can be too long, for people with small bladders. I’ve experienced having to rush into a restaurant, fully exploiting my senior citizen status, to use the CR as soon as the bus arrived in Glorietta.

There are today, 53 P2P stations in malls that service passengers from Clark in the north to Nuvali in the south. They are found in Eastwood, Antipolo, Fairview, most Ayala and SM Malls, Greenhills Shopping Center, Araneta Center – wherever people need a ride. I know of denizens of Ayala Alabang who would rather take the P2P to work than fight the traffic with their cars and pay for parking in Makati. But the buses don’t all go where we need to, so it is important to go to the website and find the ride you need.

For commuters, the P2P is a lifeline, an important support in this age of extreme traffic compounded by build, build, build.  A friend who has newly discovered the convenience of P2P has written about it on Facebook to encourage more riders so that the business does not fail from lack of passengers.

God bless the P2P for making it possible for commuters to arrive on time, fresh, tidy and stress-free, at our destinations in our increasingly dirty and congested metropolis.