Transport

If there is one thing remarkable with the transport system that we used in Italy, Spain and France, it is their promptness and reliability.

The bus services are on time as are the trains, both on international routes and in the Metro, the name for the subways similar to our LRT and MRT in Manila. One difference, though, is that Metro trains crisscrossing the cities are underground but those outside the city are above ground. All of them run on electricity so that even if they pass in tunnels of several kilometers within the city, there is no pollution.

This is important. If they run on fossil fuel, the passengers would suffocate in the tunnels that are several meters down the city streets.

The problem with these subways is that passengers have to go  several stories down. Some have conveyors, escalators and, for a few, elevators. But more often one has to go down taking the stairs.

It is remarkable that commuters do not only walk but they run. The reason for this is that many of them have connecting transport and sometimes the distance between platforms is far and may involve going up and down several stairs. Since the trains are on time, missing the train means waiting for the next though they might come just ten minutes or so in-between depending on one’s destination.

All public mass transports are owned by the government, so that drivers need not worry about getting a few passengers on a route. The driver is alone, no conductors as we have but people are honest enough to buy their tickets.

In Paris and in the out-of-town trains, we have to buy our tickets which we use to get into the platform. If there are no ticket offices open, then we buy from the machine dispenser.

In Rome, however, there are no dispensers but passengers have to buy from the “tabachi” or tobacco stores. No other retail outlets are allowed to sell tickets. The ticket can be for one day or up to 5 days. The ticket allows a passenger to board any bus any time within the day purchase. A Filipino told us that one can a risk without buying a ticker and just get on and off a bus since the inspectors are hardly getting on the bus to check the tickets. But when caught, a passenger gets a heavy fine.

We took a long train ride on the Trenhotel. One can get a ride and a sleep on a bed for the night and wake up in another city the next day. Our ride from Madrid’s Chamartin station took us over 9 hours to Paris. At ten in the evening, a train personnel brings down the folded bed over the sofa and then there are four beds in the coach.

On the other hand, the night train from Rome to Paris took a total 17 hours travel time. We took the regular day train to Milan for 8 hours and then transferred to Tranitalia, the night train after four hours stop-over. Trenitalia took 9 hours to reach Paris the next day.

Trenitalia’s night train is crowded. There were six of us in the coach so the beds when unfolded had six beds, two on top of the other. By morning we were in Paris.

While the long trip might appear a nightmare, it really is a good experience and a way of meeting people.

From Madrid to Paris, I (men have separate coaches from women) had with me in the coach a Vietnamese who owns an ecommerce in Hanoi, an American  who is going around Europe and on his way to the Oktoberfest in Germany and a Bolivian who was going to Paris to see his mother.

Except for the Bolivian, we all speak English, although the Vietnamese accompanies his English with a lot of gestures. The American translated English to Spanish for the Bolivian.

On our four-hour train ride from Lourdes to Toulouse, we had a graduate student in tourism from the University of Barcelona. She was glad to speak in English although her English was already good enough. She said she hardly had an opportunity to converse with people in English.

She was in Lourdes as guide for 45 Filipino pilgrims from Davao whom we met the day before. They were good friends of Verns’ cousin in Davao, Lily Puyod, but they had closer relationships with the kids, especially, Sonny Boy, who is propagating the devotion to the Divine Mercy.

The girl, Vessey is a Bulgarian, 24 years of age and a beautiful one. We talked about traditions in Bulgaria and how the Church survived there under communist rule. We explained to her our close family ties which she admires very well.

Taking public transport is indeed enriching.*

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