Iloilo Jeepneys

"Sa lugar lang"...

The Ilonggo phrase above is what we hear when a passenger of an Iloilo public utility jeepney wants to get off on a point somewhere on the jeepney's route. In Tagalog, we say "Para po" which means to stop, and lugar means place in Tagalog, so the Ilonggo phrase above could also be a shortened instruction to stop in that place along the jeepney's route. 

In my parents' native tongue of Pangasinense, lugar means to ride and lugaran is the place or vehicle where a person will get a ride. Somehow, it is quite amusing if you see the same word's related meanings on different Filipino languages.

Anyway, I just like to show some photos of jeepneys in Iloilo. They may have the same engines and transmission like the jeepneys in Luzon, but their bodies are very different from Sarao-inspired jeepneys in Luzon. However, they are similar with some "XLT-design" assembled jeepneys that ply the Nueva Ecija and northern Bulacan routes. 

With their hood, bumpers, and chromed or stainless steel rims, they look more like a van than a jeepney, if not for their 10-seater side facing seat benches and colorful designs. Unlike their Luzon counterparts, they don't have brace(s) or sliding panels on their windows, so Iloilo's less polluted air is free to flow inside for passengers' comfort.
 

A few Iloilo jeepneys are very long, which could probably accomodate 14 passengers on one side alone, like the one above. For long trips, usually the driver has a conductor to get the passengers' fares, call passengers, direct the driver on where the passengers are getting off.

But like a typical jeepney culture anywhere in the country, "sabit" or standing on the tail end of a jeepney is also very common in Iloilo, like in photo below who is most probably a conductor. At one time during our jeepney trip, there's as much as 6 men making "sabit" on the rear portion of our jeepney.