Why I boycott Jayross Lucky Seven Tours
By Bambit | June 14th, 2008 | Category: On the road |
The following account is based purely my own experience and is not meant to cast aspersions on the dead, but to explain why I have been boycotting Jayross Lucky Seven Tours since late last year.
I confess I was one of the people who used to stand along EDSA trying to get a ride home in the evening after work who would let each and every old MIA buss pass by because I wanted to ride the new Lucky 7 bus instead. The vehicles were new and very clean and the air conditioning compressor on every vehicle was obviously in tip top shape as well. When they started out you had to have a jacket with you if you wanted a comfortable ride in a Jayross Lucky 7 bus. Otherwise you would lose your extremities from frostbite.
Since they were new and flashy and air conditioned and even had movies on DVD video, Jayross Lucky 7 buses were preferred by most commuters along EDSA. As a matter of fact even if the aisle was already crowded with people standing and hanging on to the handrails on the ceiling, people would still get on and try to crowd in rather than take the next old bus on the same route right next to it. This was an aspect of human nature I could not understand. Why would one insinuate ones self into a crowded bus, when one could take the next one, never mind if it was older and didn’t have video, but wherein could sit down in comfort for the rest of his trip?
In the third quarter of 2007 I began to notice a few things about the Lucky 7. Even if they were not full, and quite a few commuters standing at the waiting shed on EDSA/Estrella were MIA-bound, the Jayross Lucky 7 buses would not stop to pick us up. They would zoom past, as if chased by the devil, not recognizing Estrella as a legitimate bus stop. Back then I told myself maybe they were after the SM Ayala crowd, and didn’t care much for us. And in the times when one would stop, the driver would slow down to a crawl just long enough for me to get both feet on the first rung (estribo) and then he would floor the accelerator. All of them did this, there were no exceptions. And when it was time for me to get off the same thing happened. I would have to say something out loud like “Boss sandali lang!” so that they would slow down (not stop) enough for me to hop off without getting myself in an accident. These Jayross bus drivers didn’t seem to comprehend the meaning of the term “bus stop” which I thought was simple enough. It was a place were buses stopped.
When the time came when I had to choose between spraining my ankle and risking a fight with the driver by telling him he was obliged to stop to let me off, I decided I had enough. I never rode a Jayross Lucky 7 bus again. Not even if they now slow down (yes they slow down but not completely stop) at the Estrella waiting shed. I would ignore them at the waiting area across the NAIA Cargo facility, where sometimes three or four of those buses would pass by in quick succession. I prefer Gasat, Mayamy and Precious Grace. Even the newer JMK and AC buses have better drivers than the Jayross Lucky 7 liner.
My boycott does not mean much to them, of course. I am a mere speck in the universe of commuters they now serve and who, by other blogs I have read, are quite happy by the way they zip along like the kings of EDSA. But then one driver got too cocky with the swerving and the cutting in. I wouldn’t want to be a passenger in the next Jayross Lucky 7 bus that suffers the same fate.
*photo of Lucky 7 bus taken from this Flickr Photo Stream
Note: There are other companies whose products/services I boycott, for reasons that I will write about soon. Among these companies are Nestlé and Monterey.
Pareho pala tayo. Like you, I also maintain my own boycott list. Here in the States, whenever I get rude treatment from an establishment, that’s the end of them for me. No second chances. I don’t ever come back. As far as I’m concerned, they don’t deserve a single penny or centavo of my hard-earned money if they think they can have their way with me.
I support your boycott!
Panaderos’s last blog post: Rocky Mountain High
i’m quite tolerant on these things. pero i boycott one taxi company here in Cebu.
ceblogger’s last blog post: Time To Buy Your Own Domain Name
I read the news linked to your post… must be a case of road rage. Sa Pilipinas kasi, it’s not defensive driving.
I just live here in Makati but I will support your boycott too!
watson’s last blog post: The Incredible Hulk: a movie review
Panaderos, thanks for your support. It really has become intolerable the way this bus liner thinks they dominate the NAIA-Grotto route. It’s as if the owners tell their drivers pretend passengers are kangaroos.
ceblogger, I only remember Holiday Taxi now, since it’s been a really long time I was last in Cebu. Which taxi company do you boycott, so I can avoid it too if I do get to go there again.
watson, thanks man, with all the new luxury bus liners on the road these days it’s almost easy to boycott Jayross Lucky Seven. Maybe that’s one of the things that adds to their arrogance, they know not that they’re not the only ones people go after, hence the mad rush down EDSA to get as many passengers as they can.
I will support your boycott,so if Im in manila I will never take that bus not unless they change their attitude and gives a better service that the riding public deserves.
naku,
sige, i’ll remember the busline, ateng. di na rin ako sasakay. in support. hehehe.
brujee’s last blog post: taking a break
ed and brujee - ey, long time no see, both of you. With more and more people taking public transport these days some buses are out to outdo each other in picking up passengers and cutting in front of one another. We all know that the lines on the road mean nothing to the Filipino driver, kaya ayun, gitgitang walang awa. Last Friday we were on a Precious Grace bus that throught it was on a formula 1 race with a Gasat bus. Nabungangaan ko yung driver nung bus namin dahil ayaw huminto ng tama sa bus stop, ang sagot pasalamat daw ako at tinabi nya yung bus …
hi!
I partially agree and disagree to boycott jayross but if u have no choice you will ride to this bus. Most convenient and comfortable but not affordable fare.
Hi Miah_007, actually I am not calling for a boycott, I was just explaining why I was boycotting Jayross. Come to think of it, maybe they’ve become less arrogant by now, since that tragic shooting. Maybe it’s put the fear of fate back into them. I’m the only one in the family that doesn’t ride them, and of course if anyone is traveling with me they do so too out of respect, but I’m not asking anyone to join me — we must be more practical than that.
Now, if ever a bicycle lane is established from where I live to where I work, now that’s a different kwento … and a different blog post.
Other than you blaming one already dead driver for being “too cocky”, which I think is off since the said driver can no longer defend himself, since he is already dead, I also support your reason for boycotting the said bus company. The mere fact of not offering satisfying customer service is enough for one to discontinue patronage of a product/service.
A dead person, no matter what caused his death, wether it be his fault or not, must have the peace of not being blamed for what happened. “IF” the said driver was alive, settle the argument in court or have an uncivilized row in the streets, either way, the driver can talk back and explain his side, the thing is he is not.
@ Oren Uchimato, I am duly chastised.