Irony at this time of the year

Irony

I grabbed this article from Platoz:

You see even premium bus services is rolled out. While we are advocated by the gah-men to go for goods of lower cost to combat inflation, companies are actually coming up wih higher cost of goods. Though it’s not wrong, it just show how unefficient is our current transport system. And more people will take this route since we are too fed up with the current situation of being sardine-packed by SMRT and the inconsistent arrival time of SBS bus.

And the next thing you will know is that the normal services will also increase their price all for the reason of improving their QOS.

Extracted from StraitsTimes
OFFICE workers living in five suburban housing estates can now get to work faster with eight more premium bus services rolled out by ComfortDelgro on Monday.

The latest additions bring to 33 the number of premium bus services run by ComfortDelgro.

The air-conditioned bus service halves travel time for commuters, who also do not have to jostle with the morning rush-hour crowd.

The new services are operated by SBS Transit and provide direct and faster connection from five neighbourhood towns - Ang Mo Kio, Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Punggol and Sengkang - to the Robinson Road and Shenton Way area.

These services operate only in the morning peak hours and in just one direction from Mondays to Fridays (excluding public holidays). All trips are scheduled to arrive in the CBD area before 9 am.

A flat fare of $3.60 is charged for each trip. There is no concessionary travel but standard transfer rebates apply for commuters using ez-link cards.

Pemium services were introduced to cater to commuters who are willing to pay a bit more for a more comfortable bus ride and yet costs less than a taxi ride.

They are also designed to make maximum use of expressways to offer commuters a more direct and faster journey. They also adopt flexible routing by avoiding areas which are known to be congested during the peak periods.

Mr Goh Gin Howe, 38, an IT professional, who lives in Jurong West and works in the CBD used to take more than an hour to get to work. Since he started taking the premium service last July, he now gets to work in half the time.

‘I ride Premium bus service 536 almost everyday from home to office. The service is very convenient and shortens my travelling time by at least 20 minutes. I also enjoy the comfort of a guaranteed seat instead of having to squeeze with the morning crowd on the MRT or normal buses,’ said Mr Goh.

Ms Tammy Tan, ComfortDelGro Group Corporate Communications Officer, said: ‘We are very encouraged by the positive response to the premium services that we have rolled out. We are expanding our services to more estates so that even more residents can get to enjoy greater convenience and comfortable rides to work every day. We will put on more services if demand continues to be positive.’

To celebrate the latest addition, SBS Transit is giving away 10 dining vouchers worth $100 each in a lucky draw to commuters riding on the new services. These vouchers are sponsored by Etna Restaurant.

In the pipeline too is a new CBD premium service for residents in Bukit Batok which ComfortDelGro Bus is set to roll out in the coming weeks.

Just to show how bad is our transport system, check out the number of train disruption we have to face. Not to mention, they actually calculate how many people they can pack in to improve their profit.

Extracted from StraitsTimes
A TOTAL of 66 train service disruptions of more than 10 minutes happened in the last three years, Minister of State (Transport) Lim Hwee Hua told Parliament on Monday.

These incidents took place on the North-South, East-West and North-East lines from 2005 to 2007. Out of these, 19 lasted for more than 30 minutes.

Five of the 19 were caused by train systems fault.

The remaining were due to track intrusions or caused by passengers who activated emergency buttons. Mrs Lim gave these statistics in response to MPs’ questions on the disruptions.

MP Lim Biow Chuan (Marine Parade) asked if the ministry would consider having laws requiring public transport operators to compensate passengers in the event of a disruption.

In response, Mrs Lim said it would not be appropriate for authorities to prescribe the kind of compensation that operators should give commuters.

She noted, however, that commuters can seek refunds if train services are disrupted.

Operators found to be negligent in such incidents could also be fined up to $1 million.

I would like to pose a question, “Will you accept a refund if you are taking MRT to travel to work and you’re already late?” Who needs a refund, we just want more consistent services. Money does make the world go round in one way but it doesn’t solve anything except maybe if they make a refund in cash of 1 million dollar.