A regular visitor's gripes
-
Feb 20, 2012 - ST Forum
ON FEB 11, I hailed a taxi at around 5.40am from a bus stop in Lavender Street, opposite the Singapore Casket Company, to take me to Terminal 1 at Changi Airport.
On arrival at Changi, the taxi meter read $16.10 but the driver punched a screen on the dashboard and it became $23.59.
The driver claimed the amount included a surcharge and he handed me $6 from the $30 I tendered. The surcharge was almost 50 per cent of the basic taxi fare on the meter.
I have often been taken for such expensive rides by Singapore taxis and I usually prefer to use the MRT system which is quick, clean and efficient.
Apart from some recent technical problems, the MRT is the best mass transport system in the region. The only problems with the MRT are caused by residents.
Young passengers crowd the doorway making it difficult for passengers to disembark. Also, when the doors open on arrival at a station, people on the platform rush to enter without waiting for disembarking passengers to alight.
Often, students in school uniform take up seats when older people, especially women, are forced to stand.
I like to amble along the footpath of Bencoolen Street to my favourite food destination, the Beach Road Scissor-cut Curry Rice stall in Jalan Besar. But the footpath along Jalan Besar is a major obstacle course blocked by bins and chairs and tables of many restaurants, forcing pedestrians to walk in the gutter facing the fast-moving traffic in Jalan Besar.
Cars are often parked directly in the corners of side streets slowing pedestrian progress, and many retailers claim the footpath as their own retail space. It seems Jalan Besar is an 'enclave' not regularly or effectively policed by the authorities.
Finally, I often visit the post office in Rochor Centre armed with an assortment of books, cards and letters to be dispatched. The service is always efficient and polite and within minutes, my mail is processed with a minimum of fuss.
But it is a pity that the excellent customer service of Singapore Post in Rochor Centre has not been embraced by other sections of the Singapore community.
Peter de Young
Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia
-
complain so much can don't come.
-
Originally posted by Clivebenss:
complain so much can don't come.
He complained so much I almost thought it has to be a Singaporean... -
hello Clivebenss u took the taxi at 5.40 am,it's midnight charges!all peak and midnight charges are calculated automatically by the meter!even ERP charges are also calculated auto once the vehicle pass by the gantry!only surcharges like CBD,airport,Spore Expo and Resort world,he need to enter manually!actually the big screen shows only the meter reading,and the smaller area shows the extra charges,after he punch a key known as K4,it shows the total charges!this meter is for SMRT taxis,but other companies should have the same system.if u feel suspicious,just ask him to print a receipt!don't anyhow maligned the taxi driver!he is making an honest living!give some consideration to people and not always think of about urselves!
-
u got the wrong number.
-
Mr Peter De Young not beri de young
He wanna talk abt MRT seats? he forgot that his own country de train, ppl sit on top of the train one...
-
what's wrong with students in uniform taking up seats?
i like to sit down because i very often have a 4.5 kg bag to carry. i swing it later kenna hit someone unconcoious.
and also, what's wrong with the standing at doors and people rushing in? alot times i scared i cannot sqeezed in, later i late
-
Originally posted by ^Acid^ aka s|aO^eH~:
Mr Peter De Young not beri de young
He wanna talk abt MRT seats? he forgot that his own country de train, ppl sit on top of the train one...
He also want to talk about traffic and food stalls....talk about Jakarta la -_-"
Shouldn't it feel like home for him in Jalan Besar
-
say until MRT so good, should take the 1st train to Changi Airport mah....
-
our mrt very good what... that time the mrt even trying to reduce singapore population by choking the air supply and stopping in the middle of the tracks, forcing someone to break open the windows... and then the other time at sengkang mrt the ceiling fell and injured someone until bleeding, almost killing him... very good what, they always raise the price higher and higher until mrt station also angry, want to kill passengers.
-
Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Indonesia has long fought a losing battle against commuters who stubbornly ride on train roofs to beat the rush hour. But railway officials say they have found the perfect deterrent, concrete balls, suspended on chains from a steel frame, just 25 cm or 10 inches, above any passing train
Dubbed "Goal Balls", they are about 10 cm or 4 inches in diameter and are painted silver. Twenty four, a dozen on each side, are suspended from a frame that looks like a soccer goal.
The first one was installed early this week, a few hundred yards from a train station, just outside Jakarta.
Anyone riding on the roof will find it hard to dodge the balls. Mateta Rizahulhaq, a spokesman for the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api, told CNN no one has dared an attempt it. "From our field reports so far, there have been no roof riders on that line since we installed them," Rizahulhaq said.
Concrete balls thwart 'train surfing' Over the years, officials have tried and failed to stop commuters from climbing atop carriages.
"Policing passengers has been going on in various ways for so long. Starting with oil on the roof, using barbed wire, spraying dyed water, dogs, advice from religious leaders. None of these were effective," explained Rizahulhaq.
Some critics say this latest tactic seemed too extreme.
"It's not that we do not have humanity, but from the time someone gets up on the top of the train, they just do not value their life anymore," Rizahulhaq added.
Almost half a million commuters depend on the railway system to travel within the greater Jakarta area. Trains are packed, especially during the rush hours.
Many passengers choose to climb to the top of overcrowded carriages. There are some -- train surfers -- who get on for a free ride or just for the thrill of it.
Officials say these thrill rides cause one or two deaths per month. They hope the new measure will prevent any more fatal accidents. If the concrete balls prove to be effective, more will be installed in other areas of the capital, officials said.
The government predicts that by 2018, the number of train passengers in Jakarta will increase to over a million. Everyone here agrees that what this growing metropolis needs is an improved and expanded railway system that gives passengers no excuse to get on train rooftops.
Mr Peter De Young Not Young from Indon Jarkata, bitch plz... -
Mr Peter de Young like trains without roof surfers.
-
He is in Sg not for the first time.
He should know how things work in Sg.
Complain some more and he is almost Singaporean.
-
Originally posted by charlize:
He is in Sg not for the first time.
He should know how things work in Sg.
Complain some more and he is almost Singaporean.
hoh~ chiu ish call this intergration~~~
-
Singaporeans favourite past time.
-
Times are bad.
-
Originally posted by Clivebenss:
complain so much can don't come.
bobian mah -
-
s h is talking over angie who made me laff n laff
-
angel7030 retired already.