Take public transport

A communications professional commutes—and sometimes even takes his bike—to work
By Heinz Bulos

Driving a car to work from the South Metro can take, well, its toll. The highway toll alone if you pass through the Coastal Road will set you back P150, two-way every week. Gas from Las Piñas to Pasay is at least P700 a week.

So what Anthony Rola, 31, does is take public transportation, or sometimes his bicycle, for his one-hour commute. It doesn’t hurt that the communications professional and father of three is a sports buff.

Your initial investment for a bike though is not exactly cheap. Tonton says a good mountain bike costs around P15,000. And if you don’t want to die early, you’ll need a pollution mask that’s about P1,500. Still, that beats buying a car, plunking P150 thousand as down payment and spending P15,000 for the monthly amortization.

Taking a bike means huge savings, or as Tonton notes, “a whopping P850 a week or P3,400 a month.”

If riding a bike is just too much of a hassle for you, use public transportation. Tonton rides a trike, an air-conditioned bus, and a jeepney to get to work and back. It costs him just P575 a week, or P2,300 a month. That saves him at least P1,100 monthly, not counting daily parking fees, periodic maintenance and eventual repair costs, and annual registration fees.