New Taxi Craze
A couple of months ago, a lot of the taxis I would ride would have their gas gauge at empty. I would always remind them, but they would respond calmly and say that there is still enough gas left to bring me to my destination. Later I found out that a lot of taxis here in Manila have been using LPG instead of gasoline due to the high rise of gasoline.
I found out that using LPG has been saving the taxi drivers a lot of money. When normally their gas consumption for a 24 hour shift would be around 2000 pesos, now it is down to around 1100 pesos. The owner of the taxis in turn charges an additional 100 pesos to circumvent the cost of converting the car from gasoline to LPG. The cost is around 20,000 pesos to 30,000 pesos. With some taxi companies who have a large fleet of taxis, this figure is probably a lot lower. Assuming that the taxis are out everyday, 100 pesos a day would hit around 36,500 pesos in one year. This would make the owner get back his investment in less than a year. Lately I've heard that some taxi companies have raised their boundaries to around 150 to 200 pesos. Even so, the taxi driver stands to make an additional of more than 500 pesos when before he would just break even.
There are things though that the taxi drivers and owners are currently monitoring. They are still not sure on how LPG will impact their maintenance schedule. Whether tune ups are to be done more often and how LPG driven taxis will manage the rainy season.
Initially, I had thought that LPG had been stored in the taxi in the same way it is stored in the house when it is used for cooking. The drivers say that the supplier has put an additional tank in the trunk of the car and it is filled up with LPG in a way similar to filling with gasoline. I was lucky enough to witness this just tonight when the taxi I was riding filled up in one of the gas stations in Metro Manila which had the facilities. The station had that 'box' where the hose and the nozzle was connected to. The nozzle though this time has a seal so that LPG will not seep out during the filling process. Even with this seal the person in charge of filling had kept a towel around his face, probably to keep the gas away. But does the towel actually keep the gas away? Being gas, I would assume that it would go right through the cloth. And the filling area according to the taxi driver would really have the gaseous smell. As for me, I kept the windows rolled up just in case.
I don't know what the government has done in order to monitor this new 'fad'. Healthwise it is obviously a concern to the lpg filler and also a concern for everybody else. I guess private cars will be slow to convert to LPG since they would probably value their trunk space which is used by the LPG gas tank. If the prices of gasoline go up and if the parking space expenses go up too, won't the public opt to ride taxis instead of their cars? If the jeeps, busses and cars also convert to LPG will the government also raise the price of LPG?
I found out that using LPG has been saving the taxi drivers a lot of money. When normally their gas consumption for a 24 hour shift would be around 2000 pesos, now it is down to around 1100 pesos. The owner of the taxis in turn charges an additional 100 pesos to circumvent the cost of converting the car from gasoline to LPG. The cost is around 20,000 pesos to 30,000 pesos. With some taxi companies who have a large fleet of taxis, this figure is probably a lot lower. Assuming that the taxis are out everyday, 100 pesos a day would hit around 36,500 pesos in one year. This would make the owner get back his investment in less than a year. Lately I've heard that some taxi companies have raised their boundaries to around 150 to 200 pesos. Even so, the taxi driver stands to make an additional of more than 500 pesos when before he would just break even.
There are things though that the taxi drivers and owners are currently monitoring. They are still not sure on how LPG will impact their maintenance schedule. Whether tune ups are to be done more often and how LPG driven taxis will manage the rainy season.
Initially, I had thought that LPG had been stored in the taxi in the same way it is stored in the house when it is used for cooking. The drivers say that the supplier has put an additional tank in the trunk of the car and it is filled up with LPG in a way similar to filling with gasoline. I was lucky enough to witness this just tonight when the taxi I was riding filled up in one of the gas stations in Metro Manila which had the facilities. The station had that 'box' where the hose and the nozzle was connected to. The nozzle though this time has a seal so that LPG will not seep out during the filling process. Even with this seal the person in charge of filling had kept a towel around his face, probably to keep the gas away. But does the towel actually keep the gas away? Being gas, I would assume that it would go right through the cloth. And the filling area according to the taxi driver would really have the gaseous smell. As for me, I kept the windows rolled up just in case.
I don't know what the government has done in order to monitor this new 'fad'. Healthwise it is obviously a concern to the lpg filler and also a concern for everybody else. I guess private cars will be slow to convert to LPG since they would probably value their trunk space which is used by the LPG gas tank. If the prices of gasoline go up and if the parking space expenses go up too, won't the public opt to ride taxis instead of their cars? If the jeeps, busses and cars also convert to LPG will the government also raise the price of LPG?
posted by Ricky M. at
5:08 AM
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