A Question of Necessity

A Question of Necessity

Posted by theonlinecitizen on December 20, 201145 Comments

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Photo: Todayonline

by Amanda Yun/

Mr Lui (Tuck Yew) noted that the increased train frequencies over the years – to cater to a growing population – has resulted in less time for the transport operators to carry out inspections and maintenance. “But nonetheless, I don’t think that is the contributory factor (to the recent disruptions),” Mr Lui said

Something prompted me to look at the news this morning. And like most of the mornings this week, the headlines of today’s Today paper (‘Necessary pain for commuters’) unsurprisingly sported more news on (what many people have referred to in street jargon as) “the Big Scr*w Up” .

I understood where the LTA & Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew were coming from when they stated that a decrease in train frequency and speeds at selected areas of track were “necessary” until a more in depth inquiry can be completed – and I support it on a techical basis; the tracks are no longer what they used to be, and the number of commuters using the MRT system are also not what they used to be, thus we cannot continue using that which has been worn by time like it was brand new.

What does raise concerns for me however, is that surely wear-downs and knicks as a result of age and frequent use on top of an expected increase in passenger loads should have been considered in the designing, making, and planning of the Mass Rapid Transport system. Unless there is some top secret, future of public transportation waiting in the wings to replace the MRT, surely when it was first constructed, the MRT had been built with the intention to last. If so, all those things I’ve listed (and perhaps more) could not have been overlooked (or at least, it is unexcusable if they were) because these were things we knew from three channels: common sense, experience, and education.

For most of Singapore’s history (save the brief period we had the “Stop At 2″ campaign) it has always been the desire of the government to expand the population of Singapore. With population expansion inevitably comes the rise of two things: number of cars/vehicles, and number of commuters. You can’t have one without the other, and if the former is to be maintained, there must be plans made to cater to or handle the latter – it’s just the set pattern for things in every civilizational ‘evolution’ or humanity throughout the ages.

Unless of course, the workers lived where they worked, and made all necessary travels by foot…

With that in mind, is it then safe to conclude that there was some gross mis-estimation to be confessed and/or acknowledged and acted upon?

What is really necessary at this point, is not just the mandatory retarding of train services or train speeds, but a re-evaluation of the transport system in Singapore as a whole:

It is not new information to the most of us “lesser mortals” who get to where we need to be via public transport that our trains are over-crowded (full train capacity aside, many commuters already had have to wait for the 3rd train during the morning rush before they can actually board before this reduction in train frequency at peak hours was initiated.); That our roads are congested before and after regular office hours (I myself have personally experienced many a traffic jam even up to midnight); And that our bus system does not adequately facilitate for the number of people that depend on it along certain routes (for one, most NUS students from my era & before are only too familiar with the snake of a queue for nus 96 in the mornings; the nightmare which is 963 after 5.30pm at the bus stop beside our multi-purpose sports halls along the AYE; the frustration of waiting anywhere from 30 minutes to a full hour before one has to bulldoze one’s way onto the every full and highly infrequent 151 along Clementi road – just to name a few. Or for the non-NUS students/staff where I live; the irritation that is 190 on weekends and at peak hours; the morning squeeze that is 700 and 960; the impossibility of boarding any of the above listed buses at the transit point referred to as “Raffles Town Club” – I could go on and on.)

And returning to the main problem that led to the writing of this reflection, the limited information offerred to public scrutiny at this point is suggesting that our train system is unable to sustain the frequency of transport needed by the people as well. That means, we either need some kind of drastic revamp to come up with a system that can cater to this many commuters at this “one train every 2 minutes” kind of frequency, or, we need to decrease the number of commuters during the usual rush hours.

Not knowing how much this will help the situation at hand, I am proposing the resurrection of the private bus system. In my primary school days, I’ve noticed that many factories and companies requiring shift work often chartered buses like my own school bus to bring their workers to the work place. I am also aware that this sytem used to be the norm for our foreign workers (FW), especially those employed to aid the construction of our many buildings and our infrastructure.

It has come to my attention that many of these workers now have taken to having to travel with the rest of us via our buses and trains. While I understand and give a little smile towards the efforts to assimulate them into our society to help them feel more at home in an environment otherwise foreign to them, I don’t think it’s doing anything practical for them when it results in more frustrated Singaporeans who may or may not redirect their un-soothed disgruntlement towards anti-FW sentiments/racism. If our public transport system had been able to meet the demands of daily commuters with room to spare, this measure to integrate them into the fold would be analyzed with a different eye, but the truth is, our system can barely support our own population of citizens and Foreign Talents (not to be confused with FWs.)

Honestly, other than the above (limited suggestion) I personally don’t have any concrete solution for any of the problems, but I think it irresponsible for anyone to say to the public that it is our prerogative to bite our tongue, be quiet, and just continue to face the added stress induced by a system as strained as we are by this dense (as in “high number”, not “insensitive”) population concentration on this island. This added stress is definitely not doing any favors for the other item on the government wish list (we’re talking about the desire to increase labor productivity.)

As any self-help book, early childhood educator, and even botanist would tell you; if you want something to grow, you have to make room for their growth. When there is no room, there cannot be growth. And as any psychologist would tell you, you cannot solve a problem until you admit there is a problem to begin with, and the problem is acknowledged in its entirety.

Or, to put it succintly:

“What you do not confront will not change.”

Amanda is a graduate from NUS Arts & Social Sciences, and claims to be “a bit of an armchair spectator-cum-philosopher in regards to socio-political issues in Singapore.”

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