Hiking fees
One year after the price hike from buses, they are going to do it again. Well, my question now is, why?
Let's think about it, shall we? Now there are lots of price hikes since a long time ago. Let compare with 2002 standards, 5 years ago. Price hiked a lot of times, and the service standards? Not one good improvement at all. Nothing! Yes, you get an air-conditioned bus instead of the old one with fans, and yes, you use EZ-Link now rather than the old TransitLink card and you now have more services to choose from. But in terms of service, something you can enjoy on a bus trip, none. Absolutely nothing at all. The bus still comes at long intervals and crawls slowly, the bus is cramped full of people; you got nowhere to sit and the bus is still as smelly and dirty as a toilet drain cover. Don't think so? An example, today as I have to top up my card, I went to the MRT station to top up and decided to take bus 5 to school. Went to the bus stop and waited 20 minutes before the bus came. And it was not like I missed the bus either as there were a lot of people waiting for the same bus too. Also, saw 5 MRT passed through the station, which makes you wonder that the MRT is really faster than the bus. Then the bus chugged its way into the bus stop and moved off in a similar pace.
Mind you, I'm just talking about the bus, not the MRT. MRT is fine, pretty clean, regular intervals in which the trains arrive and spacious at most times. The bus is really the one which I don't really like. Besides, they say "Oh. We installed panels on some selected bus stops to show when your bus will come". Rubbish!! What you need is a regular interval for the buses to come, on time and fast. Also, come up the bloody bus before each round as there are cobwebs all around and nasty graffiti and dirt over the seats, floor and walls.
Good service standard. Then what is Japan's bus service standard then? God-like? Pfff.
I will accept the price hike if I see some significant change in the standards of the buses here.
In the meantime, there are some solutions that you would like to consider:
1) Most simple way: the MRT
It's better than the bus, really.
2) Invest in a bicycle if your travel distance is not too far, but not really walking distance
3) Invest in a car, this may sound ridiculous but with car prices nowadays, it is possible
And you get your own personal transport vehicle and get to places more directly and faster
4) The most sensible solution: walking
Helps keep your body healthy by exercising
Also, it helps save the environment as it burns less fuel than buses and produce less toxic fumes
So, it makes you go back to the original question: why hike the bus fees now?
Labels: I don't like buses
dRIVING_oUT
5:40:00 PM
