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I was recently hired by an Ortigas-based company. I was excited and a little nervous. First, because the position isn’t the type of job that really related to my university degree and secondly, my means of transportation going to and from the office. I don’t have my own car so I really had to rely on some kind of public transportation to get there.

My sister also works in Ortigas. And since we live in the same house most of the time (long story), I figured that I’ll just do whatever she does.  Her husband and her take a cab from our village to the MRT station and from there she takes the train, gets off and walks to work. Sounds simple enough. Fine, I’ll try it.

The cab part of it was a piece of cake, cabs were aplenty along Commonwealth Ave. during that time of the morning. Cab fare from our place to the station averages around P130-150. We split the fare three ways so it’s not really that painful.

I’ve ridden the train before so I know how jammed it can get. But a considerable amount of time has passed since I was last on it and I wasn’t prepared for what I saw when we got off the cab. There was a loooooooooong line of people just to get into the station! I’m talking a queue worthy of free tickets to a Judy Ann movie. The throng of people going up the stairs was crazy! The people seemed to move like one animal with thousands of feet. It totally caught me off-guard.

It takes about 20-30 minutes from the time we get down from the cab to the time where we can actually put our cards in the slot to get into the station. And once there, another huge crowd of people are waiting to do battle. And my sister, the veteran train rider that she is, doesn’t ride the all-female car of the train. She said there’s less chance to get flattened if you ride where the men are allowed, because they tend to be less aggressive with women. Make that, a little less aggressive. All of the train’s cars are packed and I get flattened, elbowed and pushed. Wheeee.

Needless to say I was miserable. For the first 3 weeks of my new career I dreaded that part of the day.

This is what it felt like on the train. Only, most of us were wearing corporate attire.

Until one fateful day one of my best friends happened to mention that there were shuttles from Philcoa going to Ortigas. It was like the heavens opened up after a heavy rain and the sun started shining on me again! All around me flowers bloomed, birds chirped and butterflies flitted. So I tried it. To my pleasant surprise, the fx’s route included the street of our office building..Just one comfortable air-conditioned ride and I was hooked!

I still have my multi-ride or stored value MRT ticket in my wallet. Writing this blog has reminded me that I should just give it to my sister because I don’t plan to use it anytime soon.

(For the curious/interested: fx fare from philicoa to Ortigas is P50. Mrt from North ave. station to Ortigas is around P20. But the price difference is so worth it for me. Going home, I take a Fairview FX from Megamall which costs P60/passenger, “malayo-malapit”)

Sardines photo taken from foodeducate.com