CHICKENPIE.The farebox has received a promotion. Nobody else has. In the cartoon version, it gets a swivel chair, a bigger slot and its own little desk fan. The passenger puts more money in. The driver waits for some breathing room. Out the other side comes a fuel receipt, already seated comfortably. Very efficient. We have streamlined the journey from somebody’s pocket to somebody’s operating costs. The money gets a direct route. The people still need a ride.
That is the absurd arithmetic behind the South Cotabato story. Inquirer reports that higher public transport fares took effect on Monday, pushing commuters to adjust their budgets. Drivers say the increase barely covers rising operating costs. The passenger pays more; the driver still feels squeezed. A fare increase sounds like money arriving until you ask where it has to go next. Then the celebration gets cancelled before anyone has bought the soft drinks. There is no victory lap here. Just another trip that needs paying for, from both sides of the farebox.
Imagine explaining this to a calculator. More money enters. No room appears. The calculator would ask to speak to a supervisor. We, apparently, are supposed to call it adjustment. Such a tidy word. It suggests moving a chair slightly to the left, not rearranging a day around the cost of getting through it. In this drawing, I would give the fuel receipt a seat of its own. An enormous one. Upholstered. Plenty of legroom. The driver and commuter would stand beside the vehicle, looking at the same ridiculous passenger. Nobody needs a villain moustache. The receipt is doing enough.
That is where the joke belongs. Not on the person counting out a fare. Not on the person who has to keep a vehicle running. Making those two the opposing teams would be the cheapest trick in the picture. They are already paying to be in it. The better cartoon puts them on the same side and lets the arithmetic embarrass itself. An increase should at least have the decency to say what it cannot fix. Instead, the farebox gets bigger while the breathing room stays exactly where we left it: outside the frame. Please move over. The operating costs need a seat.
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