Journeys
Love 'em taxi drivers
Ask anyone who has ever been on board a taxi what the best part of the ride was. Was it the music played on the radio? The upholstery? The smell? The driver's behavior?
Over the past few months, I have been an insider on the lives of more than thousand taxi drivers in Panay. Yes, sirs and ma'ams, you heard me right -- more than 1,000 taxi drivers. Serving as chief lecturer-trainor on the ongoing Seminar for Taxi Drivers as Tourism Frontliners at the DOT Region 6 Mandiga Hall. I spend hours of my time each weekday, working hard-- hoping-- to make first-rate frontliners out of cabbies groggy from 24 to 48-hour duty. Behind their bleary eyes, however, there is always a gleam of giddiness that is very hard not to notice. Partly, credit is due to the free-flowing (read unlimited) coffee courtesy of the DOT Region 6 Director Edwin G. Trompeta. Partly, too, it is due to the fact that these taxi drivers find themselves in a setting that some would call "classroom-like." As such, there's a promise of new learning and realizations.
As a frontliner myself who was adjudged Western Visayas' Best Tour Guide in the Regional Tourism Excellence Awards, I truly believe that the tourism industry of this region rises and falls on the strengths and weaknesses of its frontliners, the "pawns" in its tourism chessgame. The czars and the generals of the tourism industry of Western Visayas may win the war for tourism arrivals and receipts but each and every battle should first be won by us in the frontline if we must expect for triumphant campaigns. Therefore, let's continuously strengthen the frontlines of tourism so as not only strengthen the fort but conquer other "territories" effectively as well.
I forgot who said or wrote these words but I believe in the depth of the message -- "Excellence requires no explanation, failure needs no alibi." If Western Visayas be excellent as a tourism destination, let us have excellent taxi drivers, among others. Taxi drivers provide the arrival, on-stay and departure experiences and impressions of the vast majority of tourists in this region. The qualities they possess and the roles they play cannot be overemphasized. Taxi drivers should be clean, healthy, honest, diligent, helpful, courteous, prompt, knowledgeable of the place, considerate, law-abiding, among others. They should serve as unofficial ambassadors of goodwill and perform the roles of salesmen, PRO, tour guides, security officers, information officers, etc., etc.
As a frontline lecturer-trainor who shares her own frontline experiences to her "students/trainees" I found out that for taxi drivers to be able to internalize the significance of their roles in society, they need first to be convinced that the quality of their performance has very real consequences not only to their lives, but also to the lives of others. Among the many ideal-taxi-driver qualities they were encouraged to develop, I emphasized the need for them to be courteous, neat and clean, honest, friendly and responsible at all times.
Listening to their colorful stories of on-and-off-the-road experiences, I must admit, I am enthralled to find out that some taxi drivers go to such lengths as momentarily leaving their cabs to carry consenting female passengers on their shoulders just so the former can save the latter from having to plod across a few meters of muddy puddles. Call it chivalry or plain helpfulness, but as to who benefits more from that situation, I won't even dare guess.
It is always heart warming to hear positive feedbacks from the taxi-riding public of Iloilo City the behaviors of taxi drivers in this city. My family is part of that public as my mom, brother Troy and I take a total of 7-10 taxi rides a day. As I bask in the nobility of this endeavor under the auspices of DOT Region 6 led by Director Edwin Trompeta and LTFRB Region 6 led by Director Porfirio Clavel Jr., I look forward with much excitement to interacting with the remaining 2,000 more taxi drivers who have yet to attend the Seminar for Taxi Drivers as Tourism Frontliners.
Ride on!