Monday, April 28, 2008

Crowded trains during off-peak hours

I took the MRT at 9 pm from City Hall to Yio Chu Kang station. The train was crowded throughout the entire journey. The air conditioning was not working. It was uncomfortable.

SMRT is efficient in packing the trains during the peak and off-peak hours. This makes good profit for their shareholders. But it is at the expense of the commutters.

In other cities, the commuters expect crowded trains during the peak hours, but the train rides are quite comfortable during the off-peak hours. This is not the case in Singapore.

I hope that the key officials in the Ministry of Transport, Land Transport Authority and the Public Transport Council will take the train and experience it for themselves.
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4 comments:

hongjun said...

Some trains (especially the new ones) are "blasting" their speakers whenever an announcement is made. The volume is sometimes far too loud and can be rather disturbing.

I also realize an announcement by SMRT to be very unhelpful. If you happen to be at Kranji, SMRT will make an announcement that to travel to Johor Bahru, we should take a bus from Marsiling or Woodlands. Actually, the faster method would be to take SBS Transit bus 170/160 or even the Malaysia's Causeway Link bus services. The timing of SMRT's announcement is "well-timed" and definitely intentional.


hongjun

April 28, 2008 11:32 PM
Anonymous said...

The CEO of SMRT does not take the train as she rides comfortably in her mercedes 500. How will she know how it is like at 9 pm? She rides comfortably while the rest of us hang by the straps. This is Singapore.

April 28, 2008 11:54 PM
Anonymous said...

The relevant officials did take the train and experience for themselves.

Except that:

1. they took it during the non-peak hours, in the afternoon ;

2. they have the whole entourage with them and book the entire train;

3. they only travelled a few stops (not like people, who lived in Choa Chu Kang and had to work in Kallang)


FYI most of the people planning the public transport system are driving cars and some of them have other people clearing the way for them.

If they really want to think in the best interest of the general public whom they are trying to sell their policy too, they should get off their high horse and take the public transport for 3 months to work and back home, including weekends. Don't depend on the stupid surveys which are "structured" in the way they want to see.

Mr. Tan, I think you are a good man and you should seriously think of being an NMP. Or even an MP - Mr. Chiam is looking for a successor and he is an honest man with integrity too.

April 29, 2008 2:09 AM
Anonymous said...

hahaha, don't think any ministers will take up ur challenge to try out the mrt themselves.
infact ur probably the only ceo to have taken the mrt recently. bravo!

May 05, 2008 6:08 PM

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