Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Bad communication from the public sector

The app "MyTransport" from LTA has a function to show the bus stops for each bus service. It shows the bus stop number and name, but leave out the road and KM of the stop. 

I emailed to LTA to suggest that the road name and KM should be included, as they are part of the printed guide for the bus service. 

I could not find an email address to send to, so I sent it to the LTA head of communications, with a request to forward it to the relevant person.

I did not receive any reply or acknowledgment from this communication head. It is a bad practice not to give a simple acknowledgement.

Four weeks later, I received an e-mail reply from another officer than they have considered my suggestion and will be adding the road name but will not be adding the KM, which they consider to be not useful. 

I immediately gave a reply, "Please call me at 66599611 to discuss with me. The KM is the most important information". 

I also found that my telephone number and email was clearly stated in the original email. It is bad to make a decision without understanding the problem.

This is an extremely bad practice, that is quite prevalent in our government agency. 

Even our ministers do not reply or acknowledge suggestions given to them. They may be busy, but they do have an army of assistants who could reply on their behalf. The bad behavior is now being followed by their subordinates in the civil service.

Tan Kin Lian

1 comment:

rex said...

tkl.
Recall what Dato DR. Mahatir said many years ago. "You must have power. Without power even if you say something logical and correct, it will not be taken seriously ".
500% correct for singapore especially. Things can move top down only , never never bottom up.

i like your km idea much. However.......

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