Singapore lady complained of PRC bus drivers being ignorant of
bus routes
April 5, 2010
An obviously peeved Singapore lady Ms Wong Kit Peng has written
a letter to the Straits Times Forum today complaining about PRC bus
drivers who “did not understand simple English and were ignorant of
the routes they plied.”
She related two recent encounters with PRC bus drivers who were
unable to comprehend her queries:
“In the first case – SBS Transit service 151 – I asked if
the bus stopped at National Junior College. The driver had
difficulty with my query, even though I repeated the location a few
times. The same thing happened on SMRT service 852, when I asked if
the bus went to Selegie Road and Peace Centre,” she wrote.
Ms Wong wondered why SBS and SMRT are now hiring bus drivers
with doubtful English language proficiencies and knowledge of the
bus routes.
She thought they are doing so to cut costs:
“If bus companies have trouble hiring drivers, perhaps it is
time to improve their pay. It is better to cut costs by, say, going
green than hiring drivers who hurt service quality,” she ended
her letter.
Ms Wong cannot be more wrong if she thinks that Singapore bus
companies are recruiting PRC bus drivers because they are
cheaper.
According to a Sichuan newspaper, an unknown “big” Singapore bus
company is currently mass recruiting prospective bus drivers from
Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, China. (read article
here)
The PRC applicants are offered annual salaries ranging
between RMB90,000 and RMB120,000 (approximately $1,562 – $2,082
monthly taking S$1 = RMB4.80) and are also given free lodging,
transport allowances and medical insurance coverage.
The applicants must have a Chinese class “A” driver and three
years of driving experience of public transport in China.
With such attractive terms, it is highly unlikely that the
company will encounter difficulties recruiting Singaporeans for the
job.
Are PRC nationals safer drivers than Singaporeans? Or are they
more experienced? Perhaps the HR managers of SBS and SMRT should go
to China and take their buses for a week and witness for themselves
the “performance” of PRC bus drivers:
[Photo: A PRC bus driver showing how he can "multi-task"
in China]
Due the PAP’s liberal immigration and pro-China policies, large
number of Chinese from mainland China have flocked to Singapore to
work, study and live in recent years, many of whom are unable to
speak a single word of English.
Unlike other countries like Australia and Canada, foreigners do
not have to pass a basic English proficiency test to work in
Singapore which explains the large number of PRC bus drivers who do
not understand or speak English.
PAP strongman Lee Kuan Yew said in a recent interview with
National Geographic magazine that it is a “good” thing that
Singapore has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants (from mainland
China) as they are more “hard-driving” and “hard-striving” than
locals.
When your correspondent took a bus driven by a PRC bus
driver and half-filled with PRC nationals along Geylang road
lately, he almost thought he was in some third-tier city of
China.
View photos of how PRC bus drivers drive on the road
here
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/04/05/singapore-lady-complained-of-prc-bus-drivers-being-ignorant-of-bus-routes/
LOL increase pay for wad? Bus driver dunno english nia
mah....... Have u ever heard of service guides? SBST and SMRT
working hard on the service guides and no1 appreciate.........
Singaporeans like to complain over a small matter of things.... Not
happy? Theres other mode of transport.... E.g. Taxi , MRT....