No Comfort Here (I)

One luckless morning… as if waking up late for early shift isn’t bad enough… I had to take the cab to work to try and reach, well, not so late.

Immediately after coming out of the shower, I started dialling for a cab as I wanted to escape the 7am peak hour call booking surcharges, and I thought I was fortunate I got a booking confirmation at 0657hrs.

“Your booking is two dollars and fifty cents. Taxi number xxxx will arrive in 5 to 7 minutes. Please proceed to your pickup location and have a present journey.”


Click here for the origin of the ‘No Comfort Here’ Campaign

Yes! That would save me $1.50. And this is where my nightmare begins.

By 0710 hours, there was no cab. So I had to call again to try and find out what happened to my cab. It took a minute or two before a sorry sounding operator came back to me and say, “Sorry sir, you cab is very far away. Can I get you another one?”

Just what the hell can I do? Of course get me another one, I thought. And yet another minute later, another cab was confirmed, this one coming yet another 5 – 7 minutes later. Time now: 0715hrs.

By the time the cab arrived, it was 0721 hrs, a small jam has started building up along the usual thoroughfare I take to join the AYE, and the morning rush hour jam has already begun along the AYE near the Clementi Road entrance all the way back to Clementi Ave 6.

Duration of trip: 27 mins. Arrival in office 0755hrs. Cost: $20.60 (incl. $4 call charges, + $2 peak hour surcharge.)

If the first cab come as it should: Travel time: 20 mins. Arrival in office 0730 hrs. Cost: $18.50

Estimated time I would have arrived at work had I took the MRT? 07:45 hrs. Cost? I think around $1.30.

No comfort indeed!!

15 comments

  1. I suppose some smart ass in SMRT discovered that it lowers the power consumption per train per ‘sortie’.

    The same reason why they turn the trains around at Yishun on the N-S line. After all, if traffic after Yishun to Jurong East is at half capacity, it is best to turn them around and run them on lines where the demand is higher. It makes pure economic (and profit) sense of course.

    As a commuter however, I didn’t have to like it, even though I travel in that direction about as often as cows demonstrate their FTL (Faster-Than-Light) capabilities.

  2. Well no. Some times the air is still as dead even when the train IS moving. And I noticed once that it started blowing when it was slowing down and approaching the station at Jurong East

  3. It is not the temperature set on the trains. It’s the fact that I think they have the blowers turning on only at certain intervals. I am not making this up as I noticed that sometimes I can feel a cool breeze blowing for a short period and then there’s no movement of air at all for a long time.

  4. They should really lower the temperatures of the trains. After all, if it is a little cold, it is tolerable. However, if one is packed like a sardine….

  5. The bus is what I use to get home after work most of the time anyway. Longer trips, yes… But then, I get a seat and I get to sleep. Way better than the blasted MRT with failing air-conditioners and sardines.

  6. I learned my lesson, and so the next day I took the buses going to Eunos Interchange from the bus stop outside.

    The beauty of bus-lanes. 🙂

    Total time taken from Kaki Bukit JTC to Eunos MRT and then City Hall? Approx. 30 minutes. Cost… less than $2.

    Anyway these days I take the train to work even for the 7am shift. All I need to do is wake up early and sleep on the train. No issues with ‘No Comfort Here’.

  7. WOW! You had it worse then!

    DAMN DAMN!

    The traffic around the Paya Lebar – Ubi area is a nightmare! Too many traffic lights and junctions in a small concentrated area.

    Add the MRT construction to the mix!

    Result: CHAOS!

  8. I recalled I once took a cab from around the same area – the JTC from Kaki Bukit to City Hall.

    Cost? $18. Time taken? 1+ hour. I should have just walked over to Ubi and take bus 61.

  9. Indeed!… more reason to next fare increase. If not, the service is getting worst and you may not get a cab, even you pay double. WORST CLASS TRANSPORT!!!!….

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