Last Friday afternoon (28 March), I needed to go to the OCBC Cycle Expo at the F1 Pit Building. Rather than drive, I decided to take bus service no 75 ( SMB 329 ) from Robinsons Road to Raffles Boulevard. At the bus stop outside Millenia Walk, I asked the bus driver if he would stop at the F1 Pit Building. The driver could not reply in English and gestured that I get off the bus. I got off the bus and walked towards the F1 Pit, only to realize that this very same bus had parked at the terminus, which was the very next bus stop. Sigh…. With news that SMRT will be adding 573 new buses by 2016, prompted me to ask my good friends Mr Google & Mr Wikipedia some questions. Some points they highlighted were: - The origins of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) are derived from a forecast by city planners in 1967 which stated the need for a rail-based urban transport system by 1992. - Following a debate on whether a bus-only system would be more cost-effective, Parliament came to the conclusion that an all-bus system would be inadequate, as it would have to compete for road space in a land-scarce country. - On 7 November 1987, the first section of the North South Line started operations - Land Transport Authority (LTA) was established in 1 September 1995 - LTA was formed with the merger of public sector entities, namely the Registry of Vehicles, Mass Rapid Transit Corporation, Roads & Transportation Division of the Public Works Department and Land Transportation Division of the former Ministry of Communications. Surprised? Don’t be !! Yes, 1992 – 1967 = 25 years – YES, that is how long town planning takes, considering projected population and growth numbers. With SMRT going back to buses, ie ‘basics’ – does this mean that the MRT is a failure? Or does it mean that during the drawing board stages, a 6.9m population number was never considered? Assuming that the responsible Minister would have been paid his millions for a job ‘well done’ – is there recourse? I dare not imagine how under-designed the other industries (eg utilities, environment & health care) are! What prompted me to write this, was my experience on service number 75. With 573 new buses, would come at least 1,000 new drivers. Assuming that they do not “stage a strike” ( which I think is against the Singapore laws ), at least, can they speak English? todayonline/singapore/smrt-adds-573-buses-its-fleet
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 06:33:15 +0000
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