Commentary – An Open Letter to SMRT CEO

2010-06-28 Grievous10 comments

“People can board the train – it’s whether they choose to”

– CEO and President of SMRT, Saw Phaik Hwa

Dear Mdm Saw,

The above statement gives me the impression that if you can legally do it, you would have us all pushed in every single train the way wool is stuffed into a pillow.

Well, it is my considered opinion you should (and must) take the trains incognito at least twice a day (especially during peak hours) for at least one full year to experience for yourself the service (or rather the lack of) your company is delivering to the general public. You have clearly no idea what many of us lesser mortals are going through day after day. In fact, you should use it for as long as you are CEO of this company. Take your trains as often as possible, along with members of the Public Transport Council, and Transport Mini$ter ~~Raymond~~ Lemon Lim. After all, all of you clearly have no ~~fxxking~~ clue why at times we choose not to squeeze in.

To be frank with you madam, I understand your predicament. It is not entirely your fault that the trains are packed to the brim. First of all, it is partly the city planners fault and even so, a part of how our little island city is organised is a legacy of our nation’s history and not entirely their fault. I am quite sure it would have made my day had Sir Stamford Raffles landed near Taman Jurong and not the mouth of the Singapore River.

Secondly, you have to keep shareholders happy by maintaining reasonable earnings per share. However, it is clear to all that in spite of the amount of salary the amount of effort (if any) you spent on improving the service is hardly noticeable. I make no apologies feeling that you are yet another elitist square peg in a round hole. Elite you may be, but hardly suitable for the task that is trusted upon you.

Have you ever wondered why we complain over the most insignificant increase in fares no matter how justified and really insignificant the increments maybe? Even though the more fortunate and more intelligent among us purchase SMRT shares and make use of the price differences and dividends to ‘self finance’ the fare increments and more, we are not actually happy with the money we are making out of our very own discomfort and misery. In fact, at times I have to wonder whether you have considered increasing the fare so you can run the trains at even higher frequencies for better commuter comfort. Had you been able to deliver a service above what is delivered now, perhaps commuters may actually love you as if you are Mother Mary or Kuanyin Ma even though they are paying more! Certainly Singaporeans loved our esteemed leaders by paying them more than any other political leaders in the world, yes?

Since I ain’t no elitist square peg, I do not pretend to be capable of counselling you on how to better do you job. Yet from the position of my humble and insignificant existence, I plead to share with you what some of us are experiencing as a result of your insistence on running trains at their current capacity and intervals. It doesn’t really matter how the ~~Stooge~~ Stooge Times report just how greatly Foreign Talents from the Sahara Desert or the Amazon Forest think of your service, you know?

For starters, if by some rare astral arrangement that happens in a million years we are fortunate enough to get a seat (after beating someone to it), it does not necessary mean we have ‘struck gold’. The person beside us could be a ‘commuter from hell’. It is not the commuter with body odour (either from a days hard work or the lack of a morning shower), nor ‘the sleeping guy without a backbone’. It is ‘Homo Scrotum Maximus’ – the one suffers from some kind of testicular disease which causes them intense pain if they don’t sit with their legs wide open. I had the bad experience of encountering one of these the other day and when I refused to budge even while he forcefully pushed his thigh against mine, he ‘blessed me with a barrage of Hokkien vulgarities’ after a long contest of strength. He claimed he has ‘tolerated me for a long time’ though the reverse is true, since I was sleeping quite peacefully within the confines of my puny seat until he decided to push against me halfway on my trip home. Even though I pointed out to the cock-eyed sod the faint line between our seats and how far he has extended beyond, it infuriated him even more. It was to my good fortune the guy next to me got off at the next station and I moved further away to avoid further confrontation.

Still, occupying more space than they are entitled is not the worst. Some shake the leg that rubs against another commuter. If it is not leg shaking as the source of constant irritation, it is the young lady who can’t stop fidgeting. She will be taking out her make-up, mobile phone, purse or music player out of her handbag more than just once. Any attempt to catch a short rest on your trains becomes an exercise in futility.

Well, I suspect you would say that SMRT is only responsible for the transit and the service does not guarantee a seat and a good rest. In fact, it wouldn’t really surprise me if you suggest that we just stand for our trip if sitting down is so bad. I’ll excuse you for your ignorance because having never use your own service frequently, you have probably never meet the ‘backpack guy’ who keeps backing into another person. Nor have you met those who seemingly like the close proximity, and to rub off some of themselves on other people. Are you aware that there is only enough room for 2 people standing almost back to back in the open space between the seats, but some end up standing in the middle while struggling to hold on to the vertical pole to keep their balance? It leaves no room for an alighting passenger, and when your ‘bee-you-ti-fool’ trains suddenly brakes or goes over a rough spot, some of them will be tumbling onto someone and everyone.

Clearly by now you wonder what is my point since the behavior of commuters and their predicament have the least to do with you? I do not really expect you to understand how often we run into more of these unpleasant individuals is indirectly a result of how your company runs the service. In your position, simply mathematics like having more commuters per train, simply means more ~~assholes~~ unpleasant individuals on it and a higher chance of others running into them is none of your concern. Your own concern is merely the bottom line, isn’t it?

Still, while running more trains might not put an end to the mad rush for seats, a lot of us do think it will still do the bottom line of your company some good when you remove the need for all that constant announcements to give way to alighting passengers. You do not need to be reminded that you may need to update those announcements in the future if future technological advances requires it, right? Take for example, the day where SMRT will be using holographic projections to remind commuters to be considerate.

Anyway, do your company some justice and specify what exactly are peak hours because I am seriously infuriated with the trains coming at intervals of 4 ~ 5 mins between 7pm ~ 730pm while a lot of people are still just getting off work. While statistically one train coming at 4 ~ 5 mins and another coming at 2 mins gives you an average interval of 3.5 minutes a train, that is not the same as trains coming at a constant interval 3.5 mins. Running some of your trains at higher load than another is creating uneven wear and tear on your trains and the tracks and it definitely hurts your bottom line.

It is baffling how such intervals are acceptable to you when Hong Kong is running theirs at half the time. What good is it for the ~~government~~ gahmen to encourage companies to stagger their working hours when some people are coming off work and your trains are still running at well… peak hour load and coming at such atrocious intervals? Do you even know I never ceased to be bewildered whenever a SMRT train pulls into station even in the late hours of the evening, packed as if it was peak hour? I doubt you will ever know because you are having a comfortable time at home enjoying the finer things in life during those hours.

Now that we are on the matter of the finer things in life, I want to know why there seems to be an increase in cases where the air-conditioners do not seem to be working properly. Did you recently require SMRT to go the extra mile in providing commuters the suana experience on a hot day? Perhaps your technicians and staff were too busy adjusting the air-conditioners that they failed to notice the Swiss guy giving you a hand in decorating the trains.

That aside, your trains also have a knack in amplifying the rainy weather conditions and provide everyone the Antarctic experience. Perhaps you want to encourage some of us to go explore the South Pole but it would be much appreciated if you would just keep everything within the comfortable range all the time.

Yours sincerely,
A Lesser Mortal Commuter

Recommended Read:
tauhuayboy: SMRT trains are not packed, according to it’s CEO

Short Takes – World Cup

2010-06-26 GrievousLeave a comment

This is an interesting World Cup where both the World Cup Champion and runner-up were eliminated in the first round amidst much controversy. While I was certain that France will be (and should be) eliminated, I wasn’t so sure that ShItaly would be.

When Italy won the World Cup in 2006, I hated them so much that I promised myself I’ll gloat whenever Italy losses a match or eliminated from the competition. I had thought they didn’t win by their skills but by a lot of acting. If I recalled correctly, I formed that impression after Italy beat Australia in a match by a injury time penalty in 2006. I felt Grosso has ‘dived’ in the penalty area and that penalty was not justified. The impression was further reinforced when Materazzi caused Zidane to be expelled from the finals.

Thus, when Italy won the World Cup in 2006, I promised myself I’ll curse them for every match they play and I would rejoice greatly whenever they lose. I was adamant they weren’t qualified to be champions even though a friend has reminded me that ‘the fortunes of the soccer is such’ and that Italy fully deserved the championship as it was cheated of a goal against South Korea during the 2002 World Cup. (I checked up on that and noted that against South Korea, the Spaniards also had two legitimate goals chalked off. Bleah!)

Yet, as I watched Italy getting eliminated before my own eyes, I couldn’t find the anger to vehemently write a blog post to condemn them the same way I did for France. No matter how badly Italy has performed in this World Cup, the last 10 minutes in that match against Slovakia gave me a new found respect for the Azzurri. While it maybe too late for the former champions, they had certainly played with more spirit than the French. It was do or die, and they had played that 10 minutes as if it was the last 10 minutes they would ever play.

It seems to me the fate is against them that day. I can’t remember the exact minute, but some time before the second Slovakian goal, an Italian attempt seems to have brought the ball passed the goal line but it cannot be determined because it never hit the ground to indicate where it’s actual position was. Then there was the offside called against Quagliarella, which is disputable since his feet were in the same line as the Slovakian defenders and just a part of his torso was nearer to the Slovakian goal posts. In my opinion, I have seen worse and no offside was ruled by the officials.

Whatever the case is, the World Cup now moves into the second stage. The Round of 16 includes:

1. Uruguay v South Korea, 2. USA v Ghana, 3. Argentina v Mexico, 4. Germany v England, 5. Netherlands v Slovakia, 6. Brazil v Chile, 7. Paraguay v Japan and 8. Spain v Portugal

May the best team win!

Short Takes – France Out!!

2010-06-23 GrievousLeave a comment

I think that Raymond Domenech is the worst coach in French football since Louis XVI.

– Eric Cantona

It is yet another GLORIOUS defeat for France… and I thought I will only hear that in Age of Empires II – Joan of Arc expansion. Never imagined that I would be saying it myself!

Serves you right, France. That’s for stealing the place of Ireland with two hand balls, and denying me the chance to see Kevin Doyle play in the World Cup for his country! I would have preferred you lost all three matches because justice is NOT yet served by the fact that you actually managed to draw in one of them.

Even the North Koreans have more pride than you clowns. When they were down 5 – 0 (before another 2 goals were scored against them), the North Koreans still tried to attack. Kudos to them for such good sportsmanship because none of them just sit on the pitch and gave up, nor did they play dirty.

For just a mere US$3 (and some even say – possibly the firing squad for losing), the North Koreans have shown themselves to be far better sportsman than the French team.

Daily Discourse – Irritating Fliers

2010-06-18 Grievous3 comments

The photo on the left shows the state of one of my neighbour’s gate, and it reminds me just how irked I am with fliers being distributed in this manner. As most letter boxes now come with a locking feature which prevents such trash from being placed into our letter box, they now ‘go the extra mile’ to deliver that trash to the doorstep. It is even more irritating than locksmiths pasting little stickers with their numbers on the toggle switch of the door bell, since there is at least one of these fliers almost everyday while locksmith stickers are far and few in between.

Whether this neighbour is away on tour I do not know, though I personally suspect that the people staying in this unit are just tenants. I have noticed that the faces change every now and then and unlike my other neighbours, none of them cared to mingle nor greet anyone when we walked past. it is possible that the actual owner has illegally rented the entire unit to foreigners without even getting an approval from the HDB (Housing and Development Board).

Anyway, I recalled when I was a teenager and a member of NPCC (National Police Cadet Corps), one of the activities was to form Neighbourhood Watch Groups and earn a Crime Prevention Badge. The primary objective of these groups is to take note of strangers in the neighbourhood and report suspicious activities to the police. We were also shown videos on crime prevention. From these videos I learn that on top of having an effective police force and good locks (or security features), and keeping close attention on your own valuables, the other effective way of preventing crime is to avoid getting the unwanted attention of crooks.

For example, walking around counting notes after withdrawing cash from a bank or the ATM may attract the attention of snatchers, or ladies walking alone in the dark wearing skimpily may attract the attention of molesters and rapists. In fact, back then it was suggested that if we were to go on tour, we should cancel our newspaper subscription as stacks of uncollected newspaper is as good as screaming out to crooks that no one is home. These uncollected fliers simply attract unwanted attention as well.

A sister-in-Christ shared with me that this is exceptionally bad in the newer towns like Seng Kang and Punggol. She claimed that she gets at least 5 pieces everyday without fail! There was once she called the NPP (Neighbourhood Police Post) for advice before going overseas for two weeks, and their response was simply, “Sorry Madam, there’s nothing we can do. Just make sure your gates are secured.” Incidentally, that was the same response I get from my own NPP when I once reported an incident many years ago where someone keeps shaking my metal gate (I supposed to test whether it’s properly locked) everyday. I had tried to identify the culprit but everytime I get to the my door, the guy has already ran. Even though the NPP sent a patrol car down with two constables to my place to understand the situation, they seem reluctant to step up patrols in the area.

While I agree that I should secure my door, my main objective was to put an end to that nuisance, not to mention that I was a little concerned that my house might be broken in one of those days. Fortunately for the SPF (Singapore Police Force), the visit by the police constables was good enough to deter the prankster and put an end to his random and daily ‘gate shaking’.

Are break-ins so uncommon these days? Perhaps it makes up a very small proportion of the crimes committed in Singapore that the police no longer pay a close attention to the necessary crime prevention measures against it. Frankly, it is my considered opinion that this malpractice be stopped once and for all. After all, beside the matter of crime prevention it also reduces the amount of rubbish that is being produced. In fact, if fewer fliers are printed, it is also doing a part towards forest conservation.

By the way, on top of putting an end to the fliers from these blasted property agents, perhaps we should also look at putting an end to cold calls coming from them. I get calls as early as 8:30am in the morning or as late as 10:30pm at night making inquiries on whether I am interested in selling my flat. For goodness sake, stop calling! I’ll call you when I really want to sell my unit.

Recommended Reads:
Simply Jean: Orchard Road Floods

Commentary – Sungei Orchard

2010-06-17 Grievous4 comments

“Yesterday’s event, I was told by the PUB, occurs once every 50 years. It could be tomorrow. But we have to plan accordingly. Most importantly, we have to have a proper drainage system… (that is) being continually upgraded, and a proper response system.”

– Environment and Water Resources Mini$ter Yaacob Ibrahim, 20.11.2009

That, was barely seven months ago. To me, the number seven is Divine because on the seventh day, God rested.

Even if Orchard Road wasn’t flooded today, I am quite sure those along Bukit Timah Road would beg to differ. If I am not wrong, floods occurred regularly along parts of Bukit Timah Road whenever there’s heavy rain. Just last year, floods also affected areas like Thomson near MacRitchie Reservoir together with parts of Bukit Timah Road.

This morning, while I was shivering in the cold air-conditioned room in the office, I received a call from a friend who just drove past Keppel Road informing me that the car park of the old KTM station at Tanjong Pagar, the leftmost lane of Keppel Road, and parts of Cantonment Link were all flooded at least up to knee depth. He mentioned that the splash around his car reminded him of the days when we took our armoured vehicles out for flotation exercises during National Service.

It is ironical that my mother used to tell me that floods have more or less ceased to exist ‘ever since Lao Lee became Prime Minister’. While my mother’s memory may have been in error, for it to occur today in Orchard Road really takes the cake. I wonder what the tourists in Marriot Hotel and the other hotels along Scotts Road would be thinking when they looked out of their hotel rooms at waters below. To me, it’s a great loss of national prestige. After all, being the 9th most expensive city in Asia with some of the best paid civil ~~servants~~ serpents in the world, I expect the infrastructure built to be able to cater to this and would have preferred that floods (no matter how fleeting) remain nothing but stories my parents’ generation will be telling to their grandchildren. However, I guess it would be rather difficult for the ~~government~~ gahmen to do anything to increase the capacity of the Stamford Canal, as I noticed that much of it is now concealed with only very small stretches (next to car park opposite Centrepoint and along Handy Road) exposed to the surface.

Even so, it has been a really long time since I heard about a flood at the junction of Patterson Road, Scotts Road and Orchard Road. That was at least 15 to 20 years ago, and it wasn’t even a real event. It was a joke in a track in Kopikat Klan’s “Why you so like that?” cassette which suggests to me that floods must have regularly occurred in that area during that time.

Whatever the case is, I have never imagined that this will happen. For as long as I can remember that little park on top of Orchard MRT Station, there has never been a flood at that very junction (or along Orchard Road). For those who can still remember, that little park used to be a favorite hangout for Filipino maids during weekends before Ion Orchard was built. Is it sheer coincidence that not long after that area is developed into yet another soulless monument to consumerism, that junction is hit by a flood?

Anyway, not long ago a report on the performance of town councils (which I considered to have a political agenda) was released to shame the opposition parties. I was told by a friend that Orchard Road falls under the Tanjong Pagar town council – listed in that very same report as best and ~~number~~ lampar 1 town council. While ensuring that the drains are not clogged and the general cleanliness of Orchard Road probably have nothing to do with the town council itself, it is ~~divine~~ poetic justice if it is true Orchard Road is within the area under the Tanjong Pagar Town Council. I can’t help but chuckled when I think of it.

Anyway, here are the pictures loaded to Twitter by some of the netizens. Take a look at ~~Orchard Road~~ Sungei Orchard, Singapore’s very own Huang He (黄河, i.e. Yellow River).

Venti no whip Mocha Floodpuccino	[un]Lucky Plaza
“Riverside View”, Takashimaya #1
“Riverside View”, Takashimaya #2	Duck Tours, anyone?
Flotation Exercise, begin!