Took public transport to town last 2 days, i noticed the Fts
outnumber the local in the train and bus ... you can tell for
yourself, chinese, india, bangla, philipino , vietnam, burmese ,
the train cabin had more FTs than locals , the bus i took was cramp
with indian , you know how it smell la.. I am just trying to
say are all the rich sg pple driving car , only the poor FT and
poor sg citizen like me still taking the public transport?
There are 2 issues in your problem.
1. Smell
2. Too many 'FT' or 'FW' cramping up our public transport.
1.Smell
This can be quite a serious issue, which was why our delicious
'king of fruits - durians' are banned on MRT. Unfortunately, we
cannot ban other smells. I am no 'olifacist'. Smells permeates
within different exotic cultures. It is a common trait amongst
human for they have sweat glands that play havoc espacially in our
hot tropical climate. It wasnt an issue back then, but with aircon
transportion, it became a problem within confine and enclosed
places.
There are all kinds of smell - sweaty honest outdoor working
people, active recreational sportsmen and women, over scented
beautiful office workers, schoolkids boys and PMS girls, heavy
smokers, butter and steak overdosed foreigners, alcohol fumes
exhaling men, etc.
As public transport is very much cheaper than owning a car,
and more practical on our small little island, at some point we
would encounter such 'smells', and it can be intolerable if
the journey last more than 10mins.
Solution:-
a) bring along a small bottle of eu de toilette/perfume,
and dab it under your nose. It would bring temporary relief to last
the journey.
b) Entrepreneurs either to develope or market battery
charged handheld ionizers that ionised the air around 1
person, breaking down odours to retain a fresh surrounding air.
Better yet if it can be incorporated into handphones as everyone
carries one.
c)More practically, with the increase in usage of public
transport, companies should fix heavy duty ionizers in every
cabin.
It can quite rude to get up from your seat and move away
when one is seated next to another with an exotic smell, but fully
understandable should tolerance be breached.With such measures, it
would ensure less discomfit with public transport.
2. Too many 'FT' or
'FW' cramping up our public transport.
There are 2 sides of the coin. The more people taking public
transport means the company would have sufficient funds to operate
it in public interest, without increasing price fares. or to put up
more services. Lesser people means either to charge higher
fares or fold up.
Secondly, with more people on public transport, it frees up our
limited roads for those that really need cars to buy time to
conduct their business. It is no longer a social status owning a
car in Singapore or taking public transport. We are a pragmatic
nation and would spend only if there is a need. Should we need a
car for recreation, it is still affordable, either rent or weekend
plate.
Solution:-
High ranking officials and their families MUST take the
public transport during peak periods and weekends at least a
minimum of once a week or month to understand how its'
customers adapt. Failure to do so will only lead to a distancing
between management and its customers, leading to more greviances
that could have been easily settled long ago.
Singapore aims to be the best. It is not just a mouthed slogan,
but a reality we all must and can achieve. Like adidas - impossible
is nothing.
