For years, I’ve told people—sometimes casually, sometimes with real curiosity—how fascinated I am by taxi drivers, Grab, Lyft, Uber, and anyone who seems to genuinely enjoy shuttling people around. There’s something about the rhythm of their work, the stories they collect, the lives they intersect with. When I visited Malaysia again, that fascination resurfaced. Grab made everything easier compared to our first trip in 2007, when getting around meant flagging taxis and hoping for the best.
But it was our last Grab driver who left an impression I didn’t fully understand until days after returning to the Philippines. He was chatty, open, and eager to answer our questions. A few minutes before reaching Central Market, he shared that he once ran an IT business. A sibling rivalry ended with his brother taking over the company. He used to travel abroad almost every year—until everything collapsed. Now he was driving again, rebuilding quietly by being on the road serving passengers.
I didn’t know it then, but that conversation was a preview of my own shift.
The Tuesday after my Holy Week vacation in Malaysia, I found myself suddenly jobless. No warning. No preparation. Just a sudden break from the life I thought I was returning to.
The weeks that followed were filled with job applications—more than 15 if I recall it right. Almost half replied with the familiar line: “We will not be moving forward with your application.” Others stayed pending and only one gave a definite yes: Transportify.
“Be careful what you wish for,” they say. But why not? Pride tugged at me, but curiosity nudged harder. Maybe it was time to finally see what kind of driver I would be.
Beyond needing income, I was drawn to something else: driving is a high‑touch job. It’s future‑proof, at least for the next several years. In simple terms, it’s AI‑safe. And in a country still struggling to modernize jeepneys (and educate its drivers) or build enough charging stations to match the rise of EVs, it’s clear that logistics and transport will remain essential work for a long time.
It’s been two weeks since I dipped my feet into this new world. So far, it’s been an adventure—learning the Transportify app, understanding bookings, trusting Waze, and navigating Manila’s unfamiliar roads. It hasn’t been the most profitable start, but that’s not the point. This is what starting fresh looks like. There’s always a learning curve, and I’m giving myself the space to grow, adjust, and get better.
Maybe this is what I’ve been preparing for without realizing it. Maybe this is the beginning of a story I used to only observe from the outside.
Now, I’m living it. (FYI, I just got my professional driver’s license last Monday.)
Marcus Can Blog 