You set out on a trip up North and you leave your house in Manila very early in the morning. There’s a probability that you, or any of your partners inside the car, would want to take a CR break after some 30-minute drive. After another hour or so, they are bound to request for another break, especially when you have seniors with you.
Traveling along the NLEX, SCTEX or TPLEX, going North has no problem getting good comfort rooms. All gasoline stations along these highways have CRs that are kept consistently clean and very well lighted 24 hours a day. And their CRs are full of lavatories, urinals, and bowls that are enough to accommodate even busloads of guests arriving almost every minute.
This is also true when you are traveling down South along the good highways out there.
But what about when those nice highways ended and you are now traveling on old highways with those little-known gas stations on the sides? Can you still expect nice CRs to go when you take a break in one of them?
This is the problem of the majority of the travelers to the far-flung provinces. While those major gas stations provide clean CRs for all their clients and guests, it’s the reverse when those major highways end and major gas stations are no longer to be found.
Because of lack of space, little-known gas stations in the provinces seldom provide adequate CRs for their customers and even travelers who would want to take a bathroom rest. Yes, there are some restaurants or coffee shops that have decent CRs, but travelers are not that comfortable having to shell out additional money for cups of coffee or food especially when they are tight on budget.
This is where the local government must come in and take into consideration the needs of the travelers who want adequate facilities for CR breaks after those long drives. Anyway, they are the recipients of the good things that might result from visits to their places by these travelers.
Those LGUs should take into consideration that they are the ones responsible for seeing to it that travelers going or just passing by their respective places have decent CRs to go to 24/7.
Those local governments may partner with private companies who can provide those decent CRs, not those single room ones but a number of well-maintained ones for travelers.
I can still remember our days of traveling up north from Shanghai in order to visit car manufacturers that were based there. Every 30 minutes or so, our bus always made a CR-break to several places that were not necessarily a gas station. Some have small coffee shops or cafeterias but the main feature were those good comfort rooms that were maintained by “seniors” that’s why they were all spanking clean and have a continuous supply of water, too.
The LGUs here can hire “seniors” to maintain those CRs and even collect minimal fees that they can use for maintenance and salaries. Imagine how many “seniors” would be glad to work on those places in exchange for tokens or they may even be allowed to sell their things on the side so they can earn more.
CR breaks are a necessity for all the travelers. Those major gas stations along the major highways are doing a great service to all the travelers, most of them are their customers, too. The LGU in far flung localities could also create well-maintained CRs that would be very useful to all travelers who might create added income to their respective communities as well.
