I was a 'Super Rider'.

Sounds like a piece about motorcycles and the thrill of speed?
No, the term was used by the then transit operator, MRT Corporation and the Land Transport Authority (LTA), when they were looking for volunteers to test the new contact-less payment cards in 2000.
I volunteered and was given this.

Volunteers were known as "Super Riders' and we had to make a minimum of five trips on the train each week. To make it worth our while, we were given a 10% rebate for all our trips at the end of the test period from Sept 2000 to Feb 2001, We were also entitled to a special commemorative contact-less card when it the system was launched in 2002. 

After the initial MRT tests, the scheme was extended to include the contact-less system on buses. There were more problems I remembered using it on the buses as some drivers at that time were still not familiar with the new cards.

The contact-less system was introduced in 2002 and was called EZ-Link. This was been replaced in 2009 with the current EZ-Link CEPAS card which can be used for more mercantile transactions.

The old magnetic store value card

The new EZLink CEPAS fare card.

Related links:
Shitty service replacing my MRT card.

Blue skies at night

I recently learnt of a phenomenon that occurs almost every day though most people are unaware of it. 

For the briefest moment each evening, the sky turns a deep blue before becoming ink black. And photographs taken during these few minutes can produce quite spectacular results.

Below are some trial pictures I took this evening between 7.40pm and 7.50pm when the blue period occurred. Pictures were taken from the 22nd floor of my apartment building showing Westmall and Bukit Batok MRT station (on the right). This was my very first attempt at capturing the blue night sky. I'll be trying again to get better pictures. They will be posted to my photo blog in the future.

By the way, these photos are un-retouched or photoshopped. 

I probably will do a bit of adjustment and post it to my photo blog later.

The pictures on my photo blog are much larger, though you can click on the pictures below to see more details.

 

At 7.42pm. Olympus EPL-1 with 14mm lens. F11@50s

At 7.45pm. F6.3@50s. Overexposed, sigh.

At 7.50pm. The blue period had passed. The sky began to turn black.