Well, allow me to share some of my experiences as a passenger,
that did not happen today but made my day. Not listed in order.
Sorry it's super wordy.
I usually take 961 to WRI everyday to go to school. There was
this time, earlier in February this year, I boarded TIB431Y. I was
almost late for school, and I knew he was a PRC SL, but I was so
panicked that I asked him, "What time you reach Woodlands
(prnounced wood-lan to him)?". He said "Woodlan? Seven-forty". I
was quite surprised, and thanked him, and he smiled at me. From
that day onwards, I have no prejudice towards PRC SLs as they are
here for a living, and they are to make the best out of it. That
really made my day. This particular PRC SL on 961 is the
friendliest one I met. I only noticed recently that henever
passengers board his bus, he smiles and bows at them, which I think
is friendly and warming. Regretted not sending a commendationb
about him.
Another experience occured back last year. When I boarded 61,
there was this time I was asking people in the bus for change for
cash, because I have no more money in my EZ-link card. After like 2
minutes of finding someone with the correct change, when I put my
fare in the coinbox, I said "sorry, thanks for waiting" and he said
"It's ok". That made my day, because he didn't rush me to pay for
the trip.
Another experience is related to one of my SL friends who used
to be from 970, then a standby and now a permanent SL of a service
from Woodlands (not trying to be biased or anything here). This is
not really about an incident. Though this particular SL is not like
those who greets passengers when they board, he does certain things
that many drivers fail to do. One thing is that he waits for the
elderly to sit down before he drives his bus off from the bus bay.
This shows that though he is pressed for time, at least he doesn't
fail to take note of the passengers safety. He also would check to
see if everybody has tapped their EZ-Link card, and sometimes would
make people who haven't tapped to tap again. Most passengers
dislike this, but the drivers have to make sure that there are no
fare cheats. I rarely see other drivers doing this, and I must
commend him on taking the trouble to do so. More important than
those two, when the bus is packed to the brim, he looks through the
mirrors to see if there is space. If there are people who are not
moving back, he'll shout "Excuse, me, please move in. Thank you!".
We've been complaining so long about people not co-operating and
taking the initiative to move in when we are standing, so I am glad
that even some drivers have the guts to raise their voice and tell
others to move in so that more people can board the bus. These
kinds of duties are somewhat uneccesary of bus drivers, but it
makes my day (and mostly everybody else's day too), because we know
they are putting in the effort in doing their job best.