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 :)
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 :)
posted by Suhandy Yao Wei Xuan @ 9:47 pm
4 Comments:
At 2:05 pm ,
the_rabin said...
I think, there are some unfair criticisms in this post.
Singapore's transportation infrastructure is by far superior to neighbouring countries; it's a little bit too-confident perhaps, but not boastful at all to say "one of the more developed transportation and road system in the world".
The criticisms that I think are unfair:
(1) More ERP gantries -- What about lower CEO & Road Tax ?
Yes, it's no a lot more, but this is due to change of "car-ownership model". In the past, CEO (+Road Tax) was the main cost of ownership; now, portion of these taxes is transferred to ERP. The argument given is to provide more opportunities for Singaporean to own car - I believe this is true and fair. This policy allows people to get "no-frills car-ownership"; those who don't mind to take detour to smaller-road, don't mind to avoid busy hours, etc. In fact, new car owners who opt for "no-frills ownership" may find it cheaper to own a car now than it used to. Also consider that significant number of people who is already "naturally" inside "no-frills" group: those who doesn't work in CBD.
(2) More rises in Public Transportation fee, despite the fact that they are already earning money without the rise. -- "...already earning money without rise" is not a fair statement.
First, transport expenses in Singapore is, arguably, not higher than in those countries with comparable system. Try HongKong!
Second, I happen to have a couple of friends that belong to Public Transport Union; some of those true "blue collar" workers of Singapore. They, too, want increment every year, their union fights for bonus every year; they also expect better work-related benefits every year. Look around, how to increase profitability of Transport company in Singapore to afford all those ? ..more riderships? brilliant! BUT by means of
- ..more foreigners ??
- increase cost of car-ownership ???
- ..tourists!! but, how much tourists can contribute ??!!
- efficiency!! geesh, they need more people to handle numerous complaint letters -)
- or trained the staffs to be mere skillful!! who pay for training cost??
Maybe, these blue-collar workers just expect too much.
Third, how much profit is fair for the amount of investment?
(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) -- Big misunderstanding.
The argument to increase public transport fee was indeed high fuel price, BUT not .. fuel price per se. The increase was because of GENERALLY higher cost due high fuel price; the increment was not benchmarked against fuel price alone, otherwise the increment will be like ..mmh.. 200% ?! which didn't happen, rite. Now, fuel price has gone down, but has the "GENERALLY higher cost due to high fuel price" gone down? well, not much, many prices are still up there. Then again, the fee is set to go down soon, isn't it ?
(4) More waiting time for MRT
Probably it's just me; but i kinda feel a slight effect of 900 more trips a week. Fewer times see "5/6 minutes" in those TV nowadays.
I can understand your frustation on your experience, however I also try imagine these things from SMRT workers perspective.
Mistake/Glitch/Bugs/Hardware Wear&Tear happens, alrite. I don't see any reason to be so negative to call it "cheat".
The first response to the complain was standard. Probably handled by a lower rank officer who maynot be trained to handle compains more than giving "standard response".
I am too a public transport users; When talking about public transport, I can switch to negative-mode in a blink of eyes; but, somehow, I am hopeful that the system keeps on improving.
**just for fun fact, the "Father of Indonesian Development" a.k.a Suharto in his 32 years of reign, only managed to build around 100km of highway in entire Indonesia, all-of-it is around Jakarta.
At 9:14 am ,
Suhandy Yao Wei Xuan said...
the comment of "one of the more developed transportation and road system in the world" to me is quite a fair comment:
1. First it dare not claim to be the best, for if it is, then it is really too boastful
2. The feeling that it is one of the 'more' developed,is in comparison to many other nations, esp in Asia/South East Asia
3. The feeling that it is one of the 'more' developed .. is one feeling felt by perhaps some Singaporeans, and not representing my exact feeling.
as for the public transport system, singapore is perhaps one of the few that 'privatized' its public transportation system. Anywhere else in the world, it seems that it is only right that the sytem suffer loss. In Singapore, they are not concerned so much about serving the public, as to maintain profit, and even higher profit, for the benefits of their share holder. For this, I think it is a bit funny.
At 6:07 pm ,
Anonymous said...
So qrazy..
Oh..
Doesnt matter
At 6:25 pm ,
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