Singapore Transport Woes - Bus Chapter II

This is a continuation of the previous posting on the Public Bus condition. I received a comment, that correctly pointed out that the person who responded to my first feedback was a standard customer service officer, who did not know what else to write, other than following what is given in the manual. Somehow, in this world that follows guidelines and guidelines.. there seems to be lesser and lesser chance for people to exercise their brain and creativity.

Recently, there is a second incident that occurred to me in relation to the Public Bus system in Singapore.

In weekdays, I need to travel on public bus, to my destination. To do that, I need to take two buses, both are charged at Fare A. The cost for one way of the trip is $0.71 + $0.71 - $0.40 (rebate) = $1.02.

Few small complaints of the bus are: (1) irregular waiting times. Sometimes, I have to wait for more than 20 minutes for 1 service number, which is stated the longest waiting time is 15 minutes. (2) over-crowded bus. This is very much associated with (1), because of the long waiting time, hence more people accumulated.

The incident occurred on one evening. I was taking the SMRT bus number 855, as usual the bus was crowded, that I was standing near the driver. At the bus stop that I am supposed to alight, I was still trapped in front. Well, I can get off from the front door also, so I tapped my ez-link card. Interestingly, the card reader read "new entry". What? I tapped my card there 7 minutes ago, it was "new entry" and now it is "new entry" again?

Now, for those from other countries, who do not know how the bus charges fares here, let me explain a bit. Each passenger carries a small touchless smart card called "ez link". Each person supposed to tap this card at the entry, and when exit, tapped it at the exit card reader. The entry is supervised by the driver. The exit is up to you. If you don't tap, you will be charged maximum fare.

After I saw the 'new entry' wordings, I tell the driver. Hey, I am trying to get off the bus, why it shows 'new entry'. He scratched his head, and after one second thought, I tapped my card there again, it read 'entry ok'. Then the driver said, you want to exit right.. can exit now.. no problem..

What no problem.. I said to myself, I felt something is not right. But I was tired from a long day at school, so I get off the bus anyway, and waited for the next bus to bring me home. When the service 105 arrived, I get on and tapped my card, and realized, that I had paid for more than $2.5 for the usually $0.71 trip.

Now.. now.. 2.5 dollars is a small amount. But it is definitely not small for someone who is earning nothing like me. For the company, this small mistakes/glitch/negligence/faulty service does not cost them anything, but earn them money. I have witnessed a lot of people who, upon getting off the bus cannot tap the card reader, because of faulty card reader. And guess, who paid the penalty for the bus company, who failed to provide a good system? => the passengers.

Anyway, I continued my trip and reached my home which is near an MRT station. I joined the queue at the MRT station ticketing station, and complained about the 'double' 'maximum' received that I received earlier. The officer was a malay lady.

"What is the problem sir"

"I want to report that my card was over-deducted"

"I have checked your card, there is no problem sir"

"why do you say there is no problem? I was being charged twice for the service 855 in 10 minutes period. For each of the charge, I was being charged maximum"

"you traveled for 7 bus stops, and it is CORRECT for the bus to charge you $1.33"

"Are you sure that the 7 bus stops qualifies for $1.33? I have been doing this daily and it charges me only $0.71, show me your bus guide and I will show you how to calculate the bus fare"

*at this point, the malay lady probably realized her mistake. 7 bus stop does not equals to 7 bus stage. Even 7 bus stage only qualifies for Fare B = $0.93 cents. But again, these are just lowly paid service officer, who probably never calculate much, or know how to do things other than pressing a few buttons that there are trained to do*

"ok, so you say you are overcharged. I will raise a claim for you. Show me your ezlink card please"

After 1 minute or so, I received a piece of receipt-like print out. I was pleased and left the station. As I read the form, I noticed that my ez-link card number has 1 missing number. Furthermore, in the reason section, 'blank' was provided. I was thinking, what? no reason? then how will this claim go through.

I was quite agitated. But I don't want to return to the officer again. One who does not know how to type and cannot put down a reason for claim properly, probably will not satisfy my further complain of her either. I return home and searched in the internet. I went into the SMRT website and found a place where I can file my case. All reasons provided and I sent the form online.

10 days later, I received the response from an officer through email. Mentioning that they recognized their fault. They will be sending me two free bus tickets that I can use for bus travel.

The reply was not tactless, and I could complain further, but I did not want to pursue the matter, so I take it as case closed.

To date, I have received the two bus tickets and have fully utilized them as well.

*moral of the story*
no moral of the story lah.. just to record down an interesting experience...

Singapore Transport Woes: Public Bus Chapter (1)

Singapore, a small island which appears as a tiny red dot on the world map, is an island of 760 square kilometers area. Within this small land, they boast to have one of the more developed transportation and road system in the world.

What is the more developed would be something like:
1. More ERP gantries
2. More rises in Public Transportation fee, despite the fact that they are already earning money without the rise.
3. More excuses not to lower down the Public Transportation fee, despite the fact of the lowering of fuel price. (When they increment it, they said, it is because of fuel price, when they don't want to lower the price, they said, it is for the profit)
4. More waiting time for MRT
5. More crowded MRT
:)... maybe we can add some more, but let's leave it here for the moment.

Well, many can be said about the transportation and road systems here. Out of personal experience, I can perhaps share a bit about public bus, and later about taxi and other stuff.

This was something that happened to me years ago when I was working in the Bedok area. Those were the days, when I need to travel all the way to Kembangan MRT, and switch to any bus, and travel for another 2 stops to reach Chai Chee TechnoPark.

As we all know (except for the ministers who probably never take public transports), when you transferred between MRT to Bus, or Bus to Bus, you are entitled to a 25-cents rebate (now is 40 cents). That day, I did not get my rebate.

Yes, you read it right! I get off from the MRT at Kembangan, and jump in to the first available bus, tap my EZ-Link card, and was deducted the full fee, without getting the 25-cents rebate. Ok, big deal, so what's the issue...

The issue is this, there is something wrong with the system. If it can 'cheat' me of 25-cents, then out of the 2-4 million person-ride/day, how many amount it can 'cheat'? say, there are 10 thousands failure a day, it will be a 2500 extra profit per day, and almost 1 million dollars per year. 25 cents, is a small figure, yes, but 1 million dollars is not small... it worths almost 2 peanuts (1 peanut = 600000 SGD)

As a critical person that I was and still am, I think that the system need to be rechecked, and the appropriate company need to be feedback that they can check what is wrong and amend it. It is definitely not fair for the public to be cheated (small as it can be) and for the big company to have extra earnings due to their NEGLIGENCE.

I wrote to SMRT. I stated the date/time/bus number when the event occurred. I describe the issue in detail and inquire on what is wrong with the system. And for my proactive feedback, guess what is the reply that I received?

"Dear Mr. Suhandy, we are sorry for your lost of 25 cents. Please let us know how we can refund the money to you. Regards"

I was badly, madly agitated by the response, because:
1. It did not address my question on what causes the problem, at all
2. It scorned me, as if I wrote so long a letter just to get back 25 cents. (I wrote for 30 minutes that day, and my hourly professional charge was 100 dollars)

I replied immediately, not kindly, and restated my disappointments in receiving such a response and making a noise that she is not addressing my issue at all. I wanted an answer to the issue, and I wanted a response from the authority that they will work to resolve the issue. The slower they responded, the more money they can get from such a lousy system.

Finally, a manager from SMRT replied, because the earlier service officer escalated the issue. This was his response:
1. He appropriately apologized,
2. He did not mention about the 25 cents (he seemed to avoid that, a good move)
3. He explained, that the error was because the clock between SMRT and the bus companies are not synchronized. The time I boarded the bus was 1 minute earlier than the time I get off the MRT, so the system did not perform the rebate.
4. He assured me that necessary actions have been taken to rectify the problem

That was the correct response that I wanted, to which I said thanks and never encountered such a problem again.

In life, I think, many of the times, we just cannot provide the correct answer that the next person wanted:
- Perhaps, we just want to provide the simplest answer and let the person go away quickly (like the first service officer).
- Perhaps we are not equipped with the necessary knowledge or information to respond.
- Perhaps, we think that it is just a small matter (25 cents only right?)
Communication is an art, perhaps we will all benefit if we learn some basic communication skill and try to see from another person's perspective.. don't you think so?

Recently, there is another issue with SMRT... but I will leave it to the next post :)

Third Semester in SBC

It seems only yesterday that I started my school in SBC.
but now, I am already more than half way through my education here

I have gone through a lot...
Difficult times with difficult teachers...
Tiring times with difficult assignments...
Stressful times with upcoming quizzes and exams...
Exciting times with the mission trip to Nias...
Partying times with my hostel mates...
Frustrating times with the school policies...
Sleepy times attending the chapels ...
Happy times receiving good results ...
Sad times receiving bad results...
Gentle times meeting with my girl friend...
Quiet times meeting with the Lord ...

the list can go on and on...
all the times that I am able to go through... I can only give thanks to God for giving me life and a chance to learn about Him more in the school, through the subjects, through the people.

The third semester did not pass by easily. I have burnt more midnight oil than what I ever did in the first year. Perhaps there are 5 times at least that I never slept at night to finish a due assignment. Staying in the hostel did not help, for the lights ought to go off at 11 am, but we normally sleep after 2 a.m. We need to wake up at 6.30 to do the morning duties (so you can calculate our sleeping ours). Finally, I decided to move out of the hostel... (yes, the raise of the hostel fee is one of the SMALL reason)

Again, I thank God for all the graciousness he did to me this semester. I was able to pass beyond my own expectation. I managed to push my GPA to beyond 3.5, and isn't that a good news?

But school does not stop here. For now I am already in the fourth week. The school work is the hardest ever, with hundreds of pages to read every week. I do hope that I can complete these assignments beyond the basic requirements and learn what God wants me to know.

Prayer Requests:
1. Going through the rigorous activities in a Seminary can be a most Unspiritual thing, if you leave God outside. So, please pray with me there.
2. Pray also for my personal walk with the Lord
3. Pray for my health. I have been feeling very tired and fatigue everyday
4. Pray for my heart. I am going to see my cardiologist this coming monday. Pray that the leaking heart condition (MVP) does not get worse. If God willing, may He completely heal me.
5. Pray for my financial support. The church has been gracious in supporting me, but I am still in need of more $$$ to survive.
6. Pray for my future ministry as Bible Translator. Pray for the opportunity for me to visit some friends in Yunnan, China, to learn about the culture and language of the people there
7. Pray for the salvation of my family. Many have yet to receive Christ, including my parents
8. Pray for my relationship with my girlfriend, Susan, that God will keep us holy and that we may love each other more each day, as we learn to know more about each other.

in Christ,
Suhandy

Loan Shark Visit #2

A continuation from the previous post on Loan Shark Visit #1 below

About 1 month or so after the first incidents, we thought that the LS has forgotten about us. We were wrong. I was away to a short retreat for a few days and the house looked normal. At night, when my bro came home, he said there are some people playing pranks on our house and sprayed the door with coffee. He had wiped it clean, so I didn't notice it when I entered the house. I was tired then, so I didn't think much of the event.

The next day, I went to the Church as usual, and when I returned home, I noticed there is a tiny little pool of black coloured liquid on the floor, under the door. It was about 1.30 pm. I asked my bro, didn't you wipe the coffee stain last night? he said yes. I said, there's coffee stain there now, and he said, probably some leftover coffee from the door frame, that drips over the time. (when I left home in the morning, the floor was clean)

I get a wet cloth and tried to clean the mess and as I was doing so, discovered there is a note near the door. Carefully, I hold the corner of the note and opened it, and it revealed: "XXXX XXX HUI, O$P$, call this number #######"

I learned my lesson from the previous incident. I left the note where it was, called 999 and wait for the police to come. About 20 minutes later, 2 policemen arrived. After a brief introduction, background, explanation, one of the police started to work and take down my statement. The other brought a camera and started to take picture of the 'crime scene' where the coffee stains were.

The police explained, that those who splash the coffee and leaving notes are mostly not the LS themselves, but the people who owed them money. In return for interest waiver, they run errands for the LS, at the risk of being caught. Why? because any LS caught by the police, they will be punished by cane stroke.. so it is a win-win solution for them.

The police left soon afterwards, and they left a contact number for the CID officer in charge of this case, who we may try to contact when we see any suspicious activities/peoples around our hdb.

There is no news from the LS ever since (about 3 months already). We hope that we have seen the last of them. This time is coffee stain, who knows what is next? paints? rubbish? thankfully, we will be moving over to a new block in 2011. We will not need to worry about such annoyance later.

The Perfect Storm

The movie "Perfect Storm" was about a fishing crew who went out to the deep sea to find bigger fish, and caught up in a 'Perfect Storm', one that does not allow anyone of the crews to survive, nor any other fishing ships in the nearby.

In our life, the journey may not be always smooth. There maybe waves that tosses and turns our paths, changes our directions and priorities. Sometimes the storm that you face seems to be so overwhelming, that no matter how hard you tried, it seems that you will never overcome it. This intense suffocating feeling, the breathlessness that accompanies each morning as you first woke up and thinking of the tonnes of things that you need to accomplish.. all these weighs down heavy on your shoulder.... can you really survive?

In the movie, the seasoned captain and his crews all perished. In the bible, however, when the disciples faced the squall, they woke their Teacher who came to their rescue and calmed the sea.

The question that we should ask is: In our life's journey, do we have Jesus with us? is He just a passenger, or is He the captain of the ship? is the ship going the way He wanted, or the way we wanted?

If indeed, Emmanuel, God is with us, then who can go against us? Life can be tough, assignments can be overwhelming, quizzes can be suffocating, lecturers can be demanding, family and relationship issues can be intoxicating, but God has the power to overcome all those issues, if we allow him to. He is, after all, the ruler of the heaven and the earth, the master of our life. He is able and perhaps he is just 'sleeping'.

For those who are working, the Storm will be similar, though in different form. It may be difficult assignments with impossible deadlines, unreasonable requirements, difficult bosses and clients. It maybe issues with family and friends that emotionally bogs you down that you cannot do any other things fruitfully.

Life, will never be lacking of the storms, big or small. In a way, the storm pushes us forward rather than remain in the same space. It also strengthens us, as we pull through one storm after another, allows us to face bigger storms, be it through our skills, or through our faith in God. One thing God will never do, is to remove all the storm from our lives.

If we trust in God, our faith will be the little beam of light, showing us the direction to go through the storm (not to dodge the storm). God will lead us through, if we are in Him and He in us. If God carries the weights upon His shoulder.... I know my brothers, my sisters.. that He will carry you...

in Christ