Riding the Motorbike to Work: Surviving the Daily Grind

Riding the bike to work saves my sanity.

The last time I drove a motorbike was when I was in high school. I have a bad tendency to get nervous easily, resulting to me jerking the throttle further, accelerating the bike as a result and consequently getting myself into dangerous situations or accidents. At my last spill where I rammed the motorbike into a pile of cement blocks, I never drove a motorbike again. I would still ride bikes, but only as a passenger and never as a driver.

But, Manila's hell-ish traffic situation would really force one to pick up dormant skills just so one could get home at a decent time. Since my husband works farther away from home, the burden of picking up my son from my mother's house falls on my shoulders. The problem is I do not want to bring a car to work. Firstly, it's expensive. We have to pass through two private subdivisions to get to my workplace and the stickers for both would cost me P4,ooo every year. That's outside the monthly gas expense worth around P1,800. Secondly, I am not really going home any earlier than usual. I only get to school and home conveniently, but the time it takes me to get from point A to B is still too long.

And so, I ended up purchasing a motorbike.

I must say, this is the most practical mode of transportation. It is cheaper than the car in all respects. The rate of private subdivision stickers for motorbikes and monthly gas consumption are only a fraction of the cost for cars. AND because you are technically tiny and can fit in nooks and crannies, you can bypass traffic and be at your destination faster than a car. On a heavy traffic day which usually takes me an hour or more by car to get home, it takes me thirty minutes on a motorbike. I come home relatively early, I pick up my son, and the time I uselessly spent in traffic before is now spent playing with my toddler and preparing dinner.

Of course, there are setbacks to this choice.

One is that a lot of motorcyclists die on the road every year. You are a tiny vehicle, coasting the road at around 40 to 60 kph (in my case), and you run alongside cars that are several times heavier and well-armored than you. In an accident, the car gets a dent or a broken fender while the motorcycle in comparison gets crushed along with its rider. I literally call my daily commute a buwis buhay experience.

Secondly, given the dangers of riding the motorbike, you have to be outfitted properly. You can't just wear anything you want because your outfit should also protect you. That also means that whatever I wear to work is also dictated by all the safety precautions of riding a motorcycle. I'm now stuck with wearing pants and rubber shoes every day, but I never cared much for fashion anyway so this wasn't much of a loss for me.

Thirdly, rain is your enemy. I began riding the motorbike at good weather and I am still trying to wrap myself around the many protective gear I have to outfit myself before I even make it out of our gate. AND THEN rain started to fall and I got acquainted with motorcycle rain gear, which I found out just recently is a whole category all to itself. It has really challenged the way I pack my belongings inside the tiny 10 liter compartment in the motorcycle and in my backpack just so I have both protective and rain gear at hand when I need them.

Despite all these, I still say that the advantages really outweigh the disadvantages. The setbacks (with the exception of the higher death rate) are just minor inconveniences in comparison to the time and the money you save in the long run. It's a good thing that I am surrounded by my family of bikers, both mine and my husband's, who supported my decision wholeheartedly to bring a motorbike to work. My own mother brought me to school on a motorbike and so did my husband's. Even now, my father-in-law continues to ride a bike to reach his workplace.

Women are such rarities on a motorbike in Manila roads. In fact, at my workplace, co-workers have always greeted me with surprise when they see me walking around with a helmet on the way to the parking lot. I bet they haven't reacted with as much surprise with male colleagues. However, at the parking lot, among predominantly male riders, there's this feeling of community and understanding as we all get on our bikes and prepare to get home. We risk our lives getting to work and home in these fast but vulnerable machines because, to be honest, there's more to life than being stuck in horrible Manila traffic.