"DUNGAGI RA'G SINGKO GANG": A NUANCED LOOK AT THE MOTORIZED PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN GENERAL SANTOS CITY

There is a high usage of motorized public transportation in the city of General Santos. The total number of person trips in a typical day in General Santos City is approximately 374,000 per day with only 19% using private transportation and 81% using the motorized public transportation. Hence, this study pursued to have a nuanced look at the motorized public transportation in General Santos to assess and examine its current state and identify its existing problems for the transport. reflection of the LGU for their law-making strategy towards the motorized public

This study used a qualitative-quantitative type of research and employed a Key Informant Interview, Survey Questionnaire, and Archival Research for data supplementation. Two (2) informants from the drivers and commuters from each of the identified barangays and one (1) informant from each of the identified government offices were interviewed for the conduct of the Key Informant Interview. For the survey method, the researchers used snowball sampling and had a total of 16 respondents from each of the barangays equating to sixty-four (64) respondents for the survey questionnaires.

The study found out that the state of the motorized public transportation here in General Santos is poor especially in terms of passenger expense, frequency, and the quality of service. The drivers and commuters have conflicting demands to advance their own self-interest respectively, but they also have some collective interests that benefit both parties. The commuters and drivers consider transportation issues in making political choices and there is a significant relationship between the political demands and the political choices of the commuters and drivers with low positive correlation supported by a p-value of .378 at the 0.01 significance level.