MRT Etiquette

[carlsum1986]

I have an answer why a lot of people still buy cars: it's a status symbol.

the kiasu and kiasi at their best.....

I just learnt those words.....

[anneteoh]

Well, I wish I hadn't mentioned the falling asleep on my shoulder tale. It happened again last night on my way home !!! Not a nun, this time, but a tired SYT, who clearly felt my shoulder was the best location for a kip !

Maybe I should start to charge...... ?

You must have lovely broad shoulders when you sit.
You could say,"Excuse me!" loudly - that'll wake the sleeper up.
Try standing up?

[anneteoh]

I couldn't understand why S'poreans paid such exorbitent prices to drive in what's a most transport friendly place.

Thats easy to answer. Imagine you are working in Changi Business park and you stay in Ang Mo Kio. Now tell me what public transport option are you going to use? And how agonising is it going to be? Compare that to a 20 min drive over the TPE.

Don't tell me SG Transport hasn't worked out how to get fromAMK to CBP!

s an Expat you can afford to rent a place close to your workplace but Singaporeans own their houses and they dont necessarily get to choose a house close to their workplace. There are tons of other reasons why a car is better than public transport but that has already been discussed to death

In the context of SG, the topic of cars versus public transport needs another think. It's mainly a status symbol, but as in the case of my nephew, with a wife and 3 kids to drop at different schoosl etc, it's more convenient than public transport. Even if it's a 4 x 4.

[Splatted]

Thats easy to answer. Imagine you are working in Changi Business park and you stay in Ang Mo Kio. Now tell me what public transport option are you going to use? And how agonising is it going to be? Compare that to a 20 min drive over the TPE.

Is Changi Business Park anywhere near Simei station? It only took me 30-ish minutes from Bishan to Simei, via circle line. Not a huge difference.

[Splatted]

No one who's commuted into London will ever complain about the brilliant Singapore public transport system. Once you know it, the bus system has to be Singapore's best kept secret. Add in the frequent, clean, safe air con MRT and (comparetively) cheap taxis - it's completely beyond me why people almost bankrupt themselves to buy and run a car.

Absolutely agree. The same is true for those that have used Melbourne's joke of a public transport system.

In Melbourne, trains get cancelled without notice... and we're talking about a public transport system where if one train is cancelled,... you could be waiting another 20 minutes for the next one on your line.

Seats were often soiled.

People have been attacked, and even raped.

Give me SMRT any time.

[anneteoh]

Absolutely agree. The same is true for those that have used Melbourne's joke of a public transport system.

In Melbourne, trains get cancelled without notice... and we're talking about a public transport system where if one train is cancelled,... you could be waiting another 20 minutes for the next one on your line.

Seats were often soiled.

People have been attacked, and even raped.

Give me SMRT any time.

Yeah, I've been hearing some disturbing news about Melbourne. How did it go down that way? Who's in charge of running the city?
A shame! I remember people used to say nice things about laid back Melbourne - wasn't there a dust storm at one time?
But I'm piqued. Can anyone list out reasons for this decline in an otherwise cool city?

[anneteoh]

As an Expat you can afford to rent a place close to your workplace but Singaporeans own their houses and they dont necessarily get to choose a house close to their workplace. There are tons of other reasons why a car is better than public transport but that has already been discussed to death

I rather fancy a Bugati by brand name and style.
Years ago, I tried to get sponsors for the International Rally from Beijing to Paris. Don't seem to hear about that these days.
Does anyone know if they're still running those old automobiles race across Asia and Europe?

[durain]

when you got a car, you have to taxi people around.

[nakatago]

No one who's commuted into London will ever complain about the brilliant Singapore public transport system. Once you know it, the bus system has to be Singapore's best kept secret. Add in the frequent, clean, safe air con MRT and (comparetively) cheap taxis - it's completely beyond me why people almost bankrupt themselves to buy and run a car.

Absolutely agree. The same is true for those that have used Melbourne's joke of a public transport system.

In Melbourne, trains get cancelled without notice... and we're talking about a public transport system where if one train is cancelled,... you could be waiting another 20 minutes for the next one on your line.

Seats were often soiled.

People have been attacked, and even raped.

Give me SMRT any time.

Hey, wanna public transport tour of Metropolitan Manila?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Been there, done that.

[nakatago]

Been there, done that.

have you tried our very efficient metro rail transit systems? beats any country's MRT system anytime!

[JR8]

Good grief this thread has wondered off-topic!

So we've all travelled on the MRT and we've all had/ seen instances of both good and bad behaviours. What's your favourite story ? Good or bad ?

Bad, or maybe just utterly gross.

An old uncle getting up and - half standing - taking a step over to the empty seat opposite, and with his index finger scooping up a red blob in the middle of the seat. Then sitting back down in his seat, and holding up his finger in front of his face and inspecting it

[Splatted]

Absolutely agree. The same is true for those that have used Melbourne's joke of a public transport system.

In Melbourne, trains get cancelled without notice... and we're talking about a public transport system where if one train is cancelled,... you could be waiting another 20 minutes for the next one on your line.

Seats were often soiled.

People have been attacked, and even raped.

Give me SMRT any time.

Yeah, I've been hearing some disturbing news about Melbourne. How did it go down that way? Who's in charge of running the city?
A shame! I remember people used to say nice things about laid back Melbourne - wasn't there a dust storm at one time?
But I'm piqued. Can anyone list out reasons for this decline in an otherwise cool city?

Public transport in Melbourne used to be well staffed, owned by the government,.... and always running at a multimillion dollar loss.

The powers-that-be decided it wasn't good enough to lose so much money each year, so privatised the whole thing.

Initially, there were two companies that ran the rail, one owned most of the east lines, another most of the west lines.

Yet another company ran the tram network, and yet another company owned the ticketing system.

In an attempt to make a profit, service standards dropped considerably. Stations became unmanned. Ticketing prices went up, etc.

Further on, rather than address many of the safety issues, they invested even more money improving the ticketing system - to ensure stations didn't actually need staff to run.

Rather than paying for staff to supervise the services, they relied instead on police doing random checks of train carriages in the evening.

Anyway, that's my take on it all...

[painkillerPink]

I have an answer why a lot of people still buy cars: it's a status symbol.

I believe it's all about ratios and percentages. High earners wouldn't notice the dent carS and their maintenance make on their allowance. I've witnessed young SGD3000 earners buy TAG Heuer as a status symbol. 40-something male colleagues buy Rolex to show off who wets the higher wall. 30-something gals show off their Louis Vuitton bags and let you guess what kind of "status" garnered them one.

But back to the MRT thingy... the worst story I've heard of was an old man picking his nose and wiping it on the supporting pole.

The worst I've ever witnessed myself was during off-peak when a female passenger was cutting her nails and leaving the debris on the seat in the train.

GROSS!

[Plavt]

have you tried our very efficient metro rail transit systems? beats any country's MRT system anytime!

That's no big surprise, it's only one line if I remember correctly?