Who would've thought?

The public transport service in Singapore is considered the best in South-East Asia. There are 2 companies providing the public transport services across the entire island. The customer services are excellent but what piques me is that the employees are ignorant about the actual running of the public transport systems and their regulations. I came to realize that they have the same sort of “clichéd answers” to all my questions, which are either “it’s the company policy” or “please check with the other company”.

Recently, I have begun to travel more frequently in my neighbourhood using the public transport. Only then that I noticed each time I made a transfer of buses, I received rebate from the previous ride. For once, I felt like I have been “rewarded”. However, the rebate did not seem to be consistent, sometimes I saw the transfer rate when I tapped my “ez-link” card upon exit, but at other occurrences, I did not. At this point, I assumed that probably there were hidden terms and conditions which I was not aware of.

Eager to get to the bottom of the matter, I consulted numerous employees for clarification. Finally, I was directed to the right consultant at the TransitLink counter. However, the information given to me was incorrect. So, I went back to the same person to file a complaint. Despite the fact that he had given the wrong information (training issue), I was not upset because he is extremely helpful and had promised that I would be contacted shortly regarding my complaint.

True enough, I was contacted by a customer support and clients servicing clerk, Jaslin. She was very helpful and her efficiency had livened up our conversation. Not only did she resolve the issue, she also referred my concern regarding the Distance Fares regime to PTC (The Public Transport Council). I am grateful about the fact that Jaslin had responded promptly and handled the case professionally.

However, the query I have for the Distance Fares regime is not about the single journey but the terms and conditions that have been set up for the scheme seems “too petty”. Check this out…

Under Distance Fares, the rules are:

·         Transfer time limit of 45 minutes.

·         All journeys must be within 2 hours of the first boarding on the same journey.

·         Single entry and exit allowed for rail.

·         Current bus service must not be the same number as the preceding bus service.

·         Maximum of 5 transfers can be made within a journey

My queries…

1. If the transfer time limit is 45 minutes, and the maximum number of transfers is 5 times, should it not be a total of 180 minutes instead of restricting the completions of all the journeys within 120 minutes? Are traffic jams not an issue in Singapore?
2. If this is a Distance Fares scheme, why should there be a restriction for the passenger who would be taking the same bus number as the preceding bus service so long as it is within 45 minutes of transfer time limit? Why penalize the passenger who may have changed his/her mind on his/her  destination? After all, the travelling distance determines the fare, not the individual’s decision, isn't it?
3. Since all journeys must be completed within 2 hours of the first boarding, could the bus driver possibly ensure that the arrival times are consistently accurate? If not, surely you are not expecting the passenger to be on time to meet your terms and conditions in order to comply to your Distance Fares regime?

Who says public transport companies should not profit? Of course they do! They have to pay wages and year-end bonuses to the employees and also answer to the public shareholders based on their yearly performances. That is understandable, therefore, in regardless to the reasons given for the frequent increase of fares would be submissively accepted by the public. Then my point is why being so rigid, making it so difficult over the terms and conditions on the Distance Fares regime when the two transport companies are making money if they are not making big bucks. I am curious who came out with these terms and conditions and who approved them? Perhaps they had never taken public transport.

Although this may appear to be critical, but most Singaporeans will not pay attention to it as they believe they are in good hands. The Government here is working very hard to provide better public welfares. However, does it includes monitoring the public transport systems to ensure that the people are getting benefit without having to struggle for it?

All in all, I strongly agree that in a metropolitan city ,rules and regulations are required and should have terms and conditions applied to keeps the world goes round. However, in this case, making them so difficult to comply is irrelevant and impractical!