Opinions on Public Transport

To be honest, I like taking public transport. Since nearly everyone uses it here, it is actually quite fun to make up stories of people's lives when I'm bored on the train. You have all sorts of people from all walks of life boarding the trains and buses and sometimes I can't help but wonder what their life story is. Then I'd create their life story. It could be as bizarre as runaway clowns (which probably explains why some people are just so comfortable on packed trains) or as mundane as a office administrator who hates his job. It is just fun.

Public transport in Singapore particularly can get pretty interesting. Heated arguments between old women over having "too little bum space" or old men yelling at each other competing who could get off the bus first. I know I should not treat it as entertainment but sometimes you can't help but laugh at how some people would hilariously embarrass themselves in public. Getting into fights with strangers on who has a bigger butt and taking up too much of the chair. Racing and trash-talking people on the bus? Sometimes you can't help but laugh at how childish these grown-ups act.

After all that hilarity about people chasing, fighting and lashing out at each other, there is another category of people I cannot tolerate. Those who scream at the train station conductors and bus drivers. Or even worse, assault them. It is not their fault they did not see you running after the bus or usher you away to control the crowd. It is not very pleasant to be inconvenienced but whatever your reason is, it doesn't justify you throwing your fists around. It is not like your boss throws his fists at you when you slip up right?

I know there is a lot of talk about the train systems in Singapore starting to look like Tokyo's and here is my take on it. However, here is a visual aid for those who have no idea what I am talking about.

Tokyo's subway map.

Singapore's current subway map

Singapore's perceived future subway map.

A lot of people are complaining that it is a bad thing to have such a messy subway system. However I disagree. Although our technology may not be advanced as Japan's (we are Asians, not Geniuses), I think that having a confusing messy train system would be good. It would actually be much quicker to get to places. Sure we would have to quick changing trains but if it means waking up 30 minutes later for school, I say, WHY NOT?

Think about how convenient it would be. Instead of taking one line for an hour end-to-end. they could build a cut through in between and make the trip much shorter. In Tokyo, when I wanted to get from one end of the state to the other in 30 minutes (mind you, Tokyo itself is at least 10 times larger than Singapore), I just had to change the trains about three times and I'm there! Sure, their trains are fast but no matter how fast they are, you can't help to agree after what I said that it is logic to build cut-throughs to make journeys shorter.