Mabini Hall - Access to Justice

The other title to this article is “To convert or not to convert.” With the effective doubling of fuel prices, I am referring to the conversion of vehicles to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to save on gas. The cost of conversion ranges from P37,000 to P60,000 depending on the type of vehicle.

Let’s do the math. LPG is about 50-percent cheaper than conventional gas prices but is about 8-percent to 10-percent less efficient. The investment is recovered after running 15,000 kilometers. The downside is the loss of some storage capacity and the extra load on the vehicle. As to safety, so far so good although there was a report of an ingenious (and dangerous!) Filipino driver who mounted a household LPG tank on his jeep. Self-conversion it was. The LPG for the vehicle is different. It is stronger and reinforced.

One way to cope with rising prices is hypermiling if you are not doing it already. It is a driving skill to lightly and evenly press on the gas pedal alternately to maximize mileage. A KPL (kilometer per liter) meter is very helpful. Braking abruptly is a no-no. The trick is to do a rolling stop. Changing lanes frequently is also frowned upon.

For the commuting public, daily transport costs eats up about one third of the daily wage. It is a staggering percentage and equates to lower purchasing power and quality of life. Not only this, a significant amount is paid for the last mile—“the tricycle tyranny” I call it. After the MRT/LRT, buses, FXs and shuttles and jeepneys, the commuter is faced with the dilemma on how to get home from the last stop. It is literally too far to walk and too near to justify a public utility vehicle. Hence the resort to “trikes” which charge an arm and a leg especially for special trips. What is the commuter to do: tired from a long day’s work, burdened with groceries and the concern for safety from hold uppers and refuge from the elements.

The common sense solution is to organize a shuttle for the community. The twin obstacles are the lack of civic spirit to get together to find solutions instead of blaming the government and the lack of capital for such a project.

The good thing of the rising prices situation is that it forces people to focus on what is essential. For many years, it is our mantra to simplify life and to go back to basics. Love is free. Friendships, too. Air and water may no longer be free given the state of pollution. At least when you shop or go to the store, you go for value and what is needed instead of splurging on frills.

Did it also occur to you that for the price of a full tank of gasoline, you can hop on a plane to Palawan? Two tanks and it’s a roundtrip ticket. Some drivers have resorted to filing up more frequently in order not to feel the pinch of a one-time hit. It’s all in the mind.

Maybe it’s time to bike to work. The smog won’t be so bad if everybody did it even for just one day. Fridays maybe. Right now, the motorcycle is the new king of the road, with or without helmets.

As to the overloading in the MRT/LRT lines, it is not a simple manner of adding more and more trains. It is not only humans who suffer stress, steel and concrete are affected, too. The rails can only take so much capacity. Calling for seemingly plain solutions without thinking through clearly is a recipe for disasters.

There is less traffic. Is there less productivity or are people getting more efficient? It can’t be both. The solution is not the total scrapping of value-added tax, or VAT, on petroleum products for that will be a populist measure. Neither will be the setting up again of the OPSF—the Oil Price Stabilization Fund of the Marcos years. A competitive market is still the best mechanism we have to exercise consumer choices including coping with prices rising.