FRONT PAGE: PM ORDERS INQUIRY AS TRAINS BREAK DOWN AGAIN
First time, we would put it to bad luck. We accept things do breakdown. Just bad luck if it happens to you.
Second time, we are irritated and frustration goes up. You should have known better, ete, etc,
Third strike, you're out! No excuses can justify the lack of vigilance. Not when it happens 3 times in 4 days.
The rail disruptions affected me yesterday.
My trip from Bukit Batok to Novena took 2 hours instead of 40 minutes.
This included being 'de-trained' at Toa Payoh where the line for the bridging buses were snaking 200meters long! Frustrated commuters switching over to the normal bus services were not any better due to the sudden surge of commuters overloading the system.
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| I was one of those who had no choice but to join the line at Toa Payoh. |
SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa should shake off her complacency, get off her high horse and truly realise the frustration of commuters. "I can't see anything significant... People can board trains, its whether they choose to..." does not bode well for your so call empathies with commuters' frustration over the bad service.
Personally, I feel Saw is not the right person for the job. Her specialty is in Retail and she has proven this magnificently by making the retail component of the SMRT revenues a whopping 45% of the profits it generated. But SMRT is not a retailer! Its core business is transportation! You are a people mover system, first and last.
Here's a little trivia I'll confess to you.
Saw Phaik Hwa was my classmate. We were in the same Pre-U batch in school.
As an ex-classmate, I wish her all the best in getting the system to work, but as a commuter, I think maybe someone else who specializes in transit might be more suitable.
Here's another bit of interesting facts I picked up reading the reports and complaints.
When the commuters were complaining of packed trains, SMRT used the figure 1400 per train as the norm. When the trains got stuck the last few days, this figure mysteriously went down to 1000 per train..?
I check Wikipedia and the stated maximum capacity for the train was 1920.
Interesting? Different figures are used for different justifications?
PAGE 35 THINK: WHEN DOCTORS INVOKE GOD'S WILL
Dr Lee's amoral piece on why doctors cop out when they defer decisions to 'euthanize' patients.
However, I must thoroughly disagree with Dr Lee's morality.
She may not believe in a God but that does not give anyone including medical professionals the right as well to decide who lives or who dies. By saying you won't consign people to further suffering, you are already playing God.
It's a very slippery slope when one starts to be firm in deciding who is normal and who is not; who is suffering terminally and don't deserve to live; and that those suffering or who are not 'normal' should be put out of their misery?
Using our reasoning, our logic and our innate moral sense does not necessarily mean we should take 'God's will' out of the equation. I am a Catholic and I believe in God's will.
Page 34 YOUR LETTERS: IT'S LEGAL TO RIDE TWO ABREAST
Two letters on the same issue this week.
Never a week goes by without someone highlighting the bicycle/pedestrian, bicycle/motorist issue.
Someone in authority must take up the issue and clarify matters. LTA? SPF?
Nobody seems to want to touch this hot potato despite the endless calls in the weeklies.
* Sunday Rantings are my thoughts on a lazy Sunday morning after reading the Sunday papers. This may or may not be a regular feature depends on whether I have the energy after breakfast. Also Sunday Mass has a calming effect, so the more I pay attention to the sermons, the less I rant. The long rants probably mean I fell asleep during Mass.
