The Buzz About Fare Increases
So this is a piece about the bus-fare increases.
Of course, it going to be difficult for me to really rant about it, because I'm not at home right now and not exactly feeling the pinch. In fact, when the suggestion was first mooted by the other writers on this page that we all do a piece about the fare hikes, I actually didn't think that there was too much to say. I do think that public transportation in Singapore is actually quite affordable (of course, that's if you exclude taxis, which I hardly take/took). Plus, there was that statistic that tried to prove that fares are increasing at the very low rate of a cent a year. Of course, there are arguments about the timing of the fare hikes (after an Election) and whether the SBS and SMRT need to turn in a profit (no, I don't think they do), and whether we need such luxurious TV-fitted public transport vehicles or air-conditioned bus terminals (no we don't). But all that aside, I think that fares are pretty reasonable.
Adding to my reticence to plunge on ahead with a slew of criticisms is my frame of reference. The crazy cost of transport here in New York, does make me quite aware of the fact that Singapore's got a pretty good system going and one that is quite affordable. When I first got here two years ago, it cost 60 dollars to get a month's worth of unlimited rides on the subway and bus-system. Soon, there were rumors (which turned out to be true) about an impending fare hike: of 24 dollars! Protests ensued (I still have a poster from one of them ...) and the final compromise was a fare hike of 16 dollars. So it still costs 76 dollars a month for me to get where I need to be and at two dollars a ride, regardless of distance, it's pretty hard to make any kind of substantial savings. In fact, the wife and I share a month pass (even though the logistics of passing the card around sometimes get tricky) for when we don't need to be out at the same time.
So relatively speaking, the fare increases back home aren't that bad. But I'm intrigued by the fact that it's become a hot-button topic for lots of Singaporeans while simultaneously being safe enough to get lots of play in the media. As a partial explanation of this, I'm wondering about the primal associations lots of Singaporeans form with their MRT and bus-routes. These are the kinds of associations that go beneath the "world-class transportation system" rhetoric, and resonate more deeply, hopefully, than the white noise generated by those darn TV Mobile programs.
For instance, I fondly remember the silly enthusiasm with which I would walk to the Newtown MRT station when it first opened (and when the trains only ran from Newton to Clementi), take the MRT and then hike home from Clementi, even though there were more efficient bus-routes in existence.
Another case in point. I've had the good fortune (ok, that's questionable...) of having taken the same bus-route for a large part of my life (about 25 years). That's the good ol' "154" that runs from Eunos (I believe) all the way to Boon Lay. Of course, I'm only intimately acquainted with the portion of the ride that runs from Bukit Timah to just a few stops after Clementi. I've ridden the bus since it was a rattley single-decker with colored tickets and bus-conductors with their ticket punches and many-pocketed leather bags. When they turned "OMO" (one-man-operated?) in the late 80s, I "stole" one of those wooden signboards that explained the details (but was made to throw it out by my mom). It was with excitement that I took the bus when the first double-deckers were added to the fleet and you could sit right up in front and wait for the untrimmed branches of the trees along Clementi Road smack into the windshield. I took it as sleepy schoolboy, smelly NS guy, confused NIE trainee and exhausted teacher, always certain that I knew the right spot to stand at the bus-stops to ensure "priority boarding" and which seats on the upper level offered the most leg room. I've done homework on that route, graded essays, sung songs and played guitar, gotten scolded, gotten laughed at, slept all stretched out in the back .... My point is that we develop bonds with these buses and trains that we depend on daily: idiosyncratic, nuanced, and often solitary (I've never had a travel companion on my daily commute) connections with these vectors through space. Of course, the same applies (and I suppose with greater intensity and clearer logic) for individuals that actually become acquaintences, friends and lovers all because they took the same bus route. Unlike the driver of a private automobile (who forms a rather distinct bond with the machine), public transportation enables mulitple connections to form and circulate on the premise of a social space that straddles the public and private in a rather unique fashion.
So, I think that goes at least some way (through the winding paths of romanticizing nostalgia, I might add) toward explaining why people don't like fare-hikes, no matter how "reasonable". I think a lot of older people get their heckles raised by rising transport costs because they symbolize a fading link to a time when things were simpler and, well, when life in general was more enjoyable.
Of course, it going to be difficult for me to really rant about it, because I'm not at home right now and not exactly feeling the pinch. In fact, when the suggestion was first mooted by the other writers on this page that we all do a piece about the fare hikes, I actually didn't think that there was too much to say. I do think that public transportation in Singapore is actually quite affordable (of course, that's if you exclude taxis, which I hardly take/took). Plus, there was that statistic that tried to prove that fares are increasing at the very low rate of a cent a year. Of course, there are arguments about the timing of the fare hikes (after an Election) and whether the SBS and SMRT need to turn in a profit (no, I don't think they do), and whether we need such luxurious TV-fitted public transport vehicles or air-conditioned bus terminals (no we don't). But all that aside, I think that fares are pretty reasonable.
Adding to my reticence to plunge on ahead with a slew of criticisms is my frame of reference. The crazy cost of transport here in New York, does make me quite aware of the fact that Singapore's got a pretty good system going and one that is quite affordable. When I first got here two years ago, it cost 60 dollars to get a month's worth of unlimited rides on the subway and bus-system. Soon, there were rumors (which turned out to be true) about an impending fare hike: of 24 dollars! Protests ensued (I still have a poster from one of them ...) and the final compromise was a fare hike of 16 dollars. So it still costs 76 dollars a month for me to get where I need to be and at two dollars a ride, regardless of distance, it's pretty hard to make any kind of substantial savings. In fact, the wife and I share a month pass (even though the logistics of passing the card around sometimes get tricky) for when we don't need to be out at the same time.
So relatively speaking, the fare increases back home aren't that bad. But I'm intrigued by the fact that it's become a hot-button topic for lots of Singaporeans while simultaneously being safe enough to get lots of play in the media. As a partial explanation of this, I'm wondering about the primal associations lots of Singaporeans form with their MRT and bus-routes. These are the kinds of associations that go beneath the "world-class transportation system" rhetoric, and resonate more deeply, hopefully, than the white noise generated by those darn TV Mobile programs.
For instance, I fondly remember the silly enthusiasm with which I would walk to the Newtown MRT station when it first opened (and when the trains only ran from Newton to Clementi), take the MRT and then hike home from Clementi, even though there were more efficient bus-routes in existence.
Another case in point. I've had the good fortune (ok, that's questionable...) of having taken the same bus-route for a large part of my life (about 25 years). That's the good ol' "154" that runs from Eunos (I believe) all the way to Boon Lay. Of course, I'm only intimately acquainted with the portion of the ride that runs from Bukit Timah to just a few stops after Clementi. I've ridden the bus since it was a rattley single-decker with colored tickets and bus-conductors with their ticket punches and many-pocketed leather bags. When they turned "OMO" (one-man-operated?) in the late 80s, I "stole" one of those wooden signboards that explained the details (but was made to throw it out by my mom). It was with excitement that I took the bus when the first double-deckers were added to the fleet and you could sit right up in front and wait for the untrimmed branches of the trees along Clementi Road smack into the windshield. I took it as sleepy schoolboy, smelly NS guy, confused NIE trainee and exhausted teacher, always certain that I knew the right spot to stand at the bus-stops to ensure "priority boarding" and which seats on the upper level offered the most leg room. I've done homework on that route, graded essays, sung songs and played guitar, gotten scolded, gotten laughed at, slept all stretched out in the back .... My point is that we develop bonds with these buses and trains that we depend on daily: idiosyncratic, nuanced, and often solitary (I've never had a travel companion on my daily commute) connections with these vectors through space. Of course, the same applies (and I suppose with greater intensity and clearer logic) for individuals that actually become acquaintences, friends and lovers all because they took the same bus route. Unlike the driver of a private automobile (who forms a rather distinct bond with the machine), public transportation enables mulitple connections to form and circulate on the premise of a social space that straddles the public and private in a rather unique fashion.
So, I think that goes at least some way (through the winding paths of romanticizing nostalgia, I might add) toward explaining why people don't like fare-hikes, no matter how "reasonable". I think a lot of older people get their heckles raised by rising transport costs because they symbolize a fading link to a time when things were simpler and, well, when life in general was more enjoyable.
posted by gary at 1:32 PM
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