"Kalesa and Auto-Calesa"

Yesterday I ran out of patience waiting for a vacant jeepney or a bus to ride going to grocery store. I waited for like an hour and most of the vehicles were loaded with passengers. Standing in the road while weather is too hot isn't my thing.

All of a sudden I saw a Kalesa. Without any doubts I asked if the driver is going to the same route as where I am heading so I can ride. The driver nodded and I was so happy. The only thing about riding a Kalesa is if you are running late then expect to be very LATE because its speed is so slow that instead of a normal 15 minute travel going to grocery it took an hour but that was so fine with me since I am not going to work and I got no reason to be in a hurry. I enjoyed the travel even when its kinda time consuming.

In the history, Kalesa (also known as Calesa) were first introduced by the Spaniards when they colonized our country around 1700s. It was the major form of transportation both for public and private in the country and is manufactured by Karoserya. Kalesa is a two or four wheeled horse-drawn carriage which is also used for transporting goods in the nearby areas.

Before, it is said that only noble and officials could afford the luxury of Kalesa but of course things have totally changed now. Despite the development in technology and a lot of changes that is on going, there are still people who decided to still use Kalesa especially those who owned horses. They would prefer to still live as how they used to.

When I was a child my mom used to bring me to her workplace since my school is just next to it. Her Boss by that time was her Aunt so it is totally fine for me to play around with the other employees kids who were brought by their parents as well. We normally ride a Kalesa back and forth also because the fare is cheaper compared to those of jeepney which was introduced around 1910.

When I was in college I tend to ride Kalesa heading home especially during rush hour at around 4pm because it is hard to ride a jeepney since a lot of passengers will also be waiting along the street for any vacant. But, whenever I am on my way to school I see to it that Id ride a jeepney because it is way much faster. I just have to be around 2-3hrs early since class starts 6am before. I had to prepare all my morning rituals and eat some breakfast before heading to school.

On the other hand, Jeepney was introduced by a Filipino Entrepreneur for a cheap and fast mode of transportation. By mid 1930s Emil Bachrach, who also owned Ford Motor Co. and Manilas first bus company had innovated a new type which has a Tartanilla that was joined seamlessly with the chassis. Later on it got expanded to seat 8-10 people.

Jeepney by then was also called Auto-Calesa. Unfortunately, those jeepneys designed on 19's were destroyed in World War II. When American troops began to leave Philippines at the end of the war, hundreds of surplus Jeeps were sold or given to the Filipinos which then developed into what it is now.

Thank you for reading this article! I appreciate your time. Hope you enjoyed me sharing a lil detail of Philippines.

Published: March 2,2021