I refer to the article ‘Jam-packed trains here? It’s worse in other major cities’, (Straits Times Forum Online Story, Nov 27).

I felt exasperated whenever comparisons with other cities are made with regard to certain feedback, be it about our public transport system, cost of living, sizes and cost of apartments or even the raise in GST!

Is there a double standard whereby ‘complaints’ are to be silenced by comparing with something worse; but when justifying, for e.g. a director’s pay, it is to be compared with someone who earns more?

In other words, such comparisons are meaningless. They do not solve any problems at all. In fact, such comparisons probably drive more people to take to cars as a prime choice of transport in spite of the amount of money spent on our ‘World Class Transport’.

So far, I have seen comparisons with London, Tokyo, New York, Paris and Rome. May I ask, just how objective are comparisons based on interviews or personal experience? Just what good is such comparisons when Tokyo, New York and London are almost 2 times, or more than 2 times as populated as Singapore?

Furthermore, have we also looked at the frequency of trains during peak hours in these cities and the age of these cities’ subway systems? What about the fares in those other countries? And how about train load during off peak hours? Is it just me that I felt very often, trains looked as if they are at peak hours loads, even at 9:30pm at night? How does that compare to other cities at a similar time?

Please, quit comparing with other cities based on personal experience or opinion. It’s hardly a apple to apple comparison.