While jeepneys now vie with buses, vans and motorbikes for passengers, they are still a common sight and sound in the archipelago nation. Photo: Ted ALJIBE / AFPSeven decades later, the colourfully decorated vehicles face an existential threat from a plan to replace them with modern mini-buses.
Demand began to fall over the following decades as other transport options became available. By 2014, Sarao Motors was producing as few as 10 jeepneys per month. "With this new programme there have been a lot of doubts or fears that if they purchase a brand new jeepney will they still be able to use it a couple of years down the road?"
Often brightly painted and with an exhaust that sounds like a trumpet, jeepneys cost passengers as little as 13 pesos to ride and their second-hand diesel truck engines are easy to fix. Photo: Ted ALJIBE / AFP"It's difficult for us to get a modern jeepney... we can't afford the price," said Julio Dimaunahan, 57, who operates a jeepney in Manila and has joined a cooperative.
The government wants to replace jeepneys with modern mini-buses that have European emission standard engines or electric motors, WiFi, CCTV and air-conditioning. Photo: Ted ALJIBE / AFPOften brightly painted and with an exhaust that sounds like a trumpet, jeepneys cost passengers as little as 13 pesos to ride and their second-hand diesel truck engines are easy to fix."Once a customer buys a jeepney from us any mechanic in the provinces or the far flung regions can fix it," Sarao said.