Jeepney Factory in Manila (Las Pinas)

The local buses in the Philippines are called Jeepneys

We, me and our son Julian, have visited one of the few remaining factories in the Philippines; Sarao in Las Pinas, not far from Manila. 

However they hardly build new ones any more.

If New York has its famed yellow cab and London has its tube (subway), then the Philippines has the jeepney as its most popular and widely recognized form of transportation.

Crowned the “king of the road” because of their bulky box type frame and because of the notorious way that drivers would jostle their way in and out of traffic, jeepneys are actually a remnant World War II.  After the war between the Americans and the Japanese, hundreds of Willy jeeps were left behind.  Filipinos saw the potential in attaching a roof, extending its length by two meters to and adding two rows of seats to fit additional passengers, and the Philippines’ earliest forms of a “share shuttle” was born.

The jeepney dominated the narrow streets because it was flexible enough to weave in and out of them—despite its heavy frame.  Though nimble, the jeepney was also sturdy enough to hold anything from fruits to animals on its roof.

The brand name that has actually come to mean jeepney is “Sarao,” the company that first started out making them in 1953 and became famous the world over for doing so.

In October 2000, when Leonardo Sarao broke the news to his staff of almost 300 that Sarao Motors – once the biggest jeepney-makers in the Philippines – was ceasing production, most broke down in tears.