The urban drainage system in Phnom Penh is as old as the end of the colonial history. Whenever it rains, the road turns into the Yellow River, and the chassis is high enough to ride the rolling waves. If you can’t afford a new car, the fuel consumption efficiency of a used car is of course not good, not to mention the breakdown in the middle of the road, and the repair bill will surprise people from time to time. In order to save this cost, after driving the children every day, Vutha also nursed the car at the store opposite the school, and got on the bicycle, hung up a dry towel, and shuttled between the urban office and different tutoring clients. .
In September 2019, Phnom Penh City Bus was funded Image Manipulation Service by Japan and released a real-time bus information system. Now the mobile app can locate it in real time, and the bus shelters that used to patrol the leaves began to line up. Regardless of the mileage, the bus is 1,500 Cambodian dollars (about NT$11), free for students, children and elders with disabilities, and air-conditioned. It is an economical option for urban transportation.
For Vutha, although taking the bus can avoid the risk of commuting by locomotive, the bus stops and starts, rushes and brakes hard during rush hour, and young passengers get motion sickness and vomit, and take the bus as a dreadful way. When I got out of the air-conditioned car, I walked in the scorching sun and sweated profusely. The child was prone to illness when it was hot and cold. And longer commutes also mean having to get up early, sacrificing sleep time for kids. The three different commuting ecology of locomotives, automobiles, and buses are not only the difference in the way of movement, but also the health risk gap between different social and economic classes.