Rant on bus
Annoyed at buses going to-from NUS. Last night went to watch a free jazz trio performance (piano, bass, and drums) - fell asleep through half of it due to lack of sleep and due to jazz music's lack of adrenaline-inducing beats unlike say, Korean percussion drums.
But best part is after the performance ended. I was waiting for #96 bus to get to an MRT station to get back home. 2 minutes passed, a completely full bus passed by. 15 more minutes, another completely full bus. Another 15 minutes, 3rd full bus. It was 9 something pm when the performance ended so I didn't realize it was that hard to get a bus at this freaking non-peak hour. So tried to walk to the MRT seeing that it was 4 stops away or so, not too bad what, ~30 minutes of walk ma. Guess what, got lost but later thought I saw road signs pointing to the correct direction that I need to go (because I roughly know the location but not the precise directions). So I walked on like a MFSH and somehow they don't have walking spaces beside the roads. I have no choice but to walk on the sidewalk that is not parallel to roads. When I get out, !@*&^$$# already on a different road. Luckily there was a bus stop nearby. Even then I waited for 20-30 minutes for one bus to turn up (there were 3 buses going to my destination, talking about efficiency). The rest was business as usual, 40-50 minutes of commuting.
Although I admit I am partly to be blamed for not knowing how to walk to the MRT, I am of the opinion that if you can't get a bus after waiting for 40 minutes in your World's Top University at 9 p.m. that is pretty screwed up (almost as screwed up as those Malaysian buses last time I was there). Anyway the latest strategy to improve commuting experience is to introduce a more accurate predicting system. Let's apply this to my case. The system detects the bus is full, so from saying "Arriving" it displays "15 minutes". Then after 5 minutes aiyo another bus also full wor, so from say "10 minutes" it becomes "25 minutes". So what am I supposed to do with that information? Call a cab and pay $5 for what you usually get for $0.69? Continue waiting? What if the bus is your only way to get there and you keep getting all these full buses for the next 30 minutes? Judge for yourself how useful the perfect prediction system is.
Then this morning, I only managed to get into the 3rd bus after about 30 minutes of wait (on a good day, it takes 10-15 minutes to complete the whole journey). If this is Malaysia, I won't be surprised. But this is Singapore wor, developed country wor. Another interesting thing that my colleague pointed out was that during university vacation period and now that school reopened, the bus frequency is still the same whereas passenger volume has increased by maybe four- or five-folds. In UBC, in the same case, there would be more bus services available and frequency will be increased. I guess it's not that flexible here.
Paise la. Another one of my rant and rave session. Recently commuting and lack of sleep has taken its toll on my temper. But very tired dy right now, so going back to sleep...
But best part is after the performance ended. I was waiting for #96 bus to get to an MRT station to get back home. 2 minutes passed, a completely full bus passed by. 15 more minutes, another completely full bus. Another 15 minutes, 3rd full bus. It was 9 something pm when the performance ended so I didn't realize it was that hard to get a bus at this freaking non-peak hour. So tried to walk to the MRT seeing that it was 4 stops away or so, not too bad what, ~30 minutes of walk ma. Guess what, got lost but later thought I saw road signs pointing to the correct direction that I need to go (because I roughly know the location but not the precise directions). So I walked on like a MFSH and somehow they don't have walking spaces beside the roads. I have no choice but to walk on the sidewalk that is not parallel to roads. When I get out, !@*&^$$# already on a different road. Luckily there was a bus stop nearby. Even then I waited for 20-30 minutes for one bus to turn up (there were 3 buses going to my destination, talking about efficiency). The rest was business as usual, 40-50 minutes of commuting.
Although I admit I am partly to be blamed for not knowing how to walk to the MRT, I am of the opinion that if you can't get a bus after waiting for 40 minutes in your World's Top University at 9 p.m. that is pretty screwed up (almost as screwed up as those Malaysian buses last time I was there). Anyway the latest strategy to improve commuting experience is to introduce a more accurate predicting system. Let's apply this to my case. The system detects the bus is full, so from saying "Arriving" it displays "15 minutes". Then after 5 minutes aiyo another bus also full wor, so from say "10 minutes" it becomes "25 minutes". So what am I supposed to do with that information? Call a cab and pay $5 for what you usually get for $0.69? Continue waiting? What if the bus is your only way to get there and you keep getting all these full buses for the next 30 minutes? Judge for yourself how useful the perfect prediction system is.
Then this morning, I only managed to get into the 3rd bus after about 30 minutes of wait (on a good day, it takes 10-15 minutes to complete the whole journey). If this is Malaysia, I won't be surprised. But this is Singapore wor, developed country wor. Another interesting thing that my colleague pointed out was that during university vacation period and now that school reopened, the bus frequency is still the same whereas passenger volume has increased by maybe four- or five-folds. In UBC, in the same case, there would be more bus services available and frequency will be increased. I guess it's not that flexible here.
Paise la. Another one of my rant and rave session. Recently commuting and lack of sleep has taken its toll on my temper. But very tired dy right now, so going back to sleep...