Well, for those of you who wants to take photographs at a bus
interchange or terminal, just a heads-up. From what I have
observed, it's an unwritten but enforced rule that you should not
take photographs at a bus terminal or interchange; this is still
largely a gray area that is not well-defined, and has been
discussed here from time to time. However, if I remember correctly,
it is OK to take photographs at a bus interchange or terminal after
you get permission from the staff there; a few people around here
have pictures of buses taken at the interchange after receiving
permission from the staff.
Photography of public transit system is a very sensitive issue
not only in Singapore, but elsewhere around the world too - I heard
that there was this incident when someone in New York was detained
and denied his legal rights - for taking photographs of the subway
system there (something similar happened in Singapore with regards
to buses, I believe). A planned ban on photo-taking there was shot
down after the citizens there gathered to protest and voice out
against it. Over here, as it is not a formally and legally-defined
and written rule, the whole thing is very much a gray area. It's
better to be safe than sorry, but - and I strongly advise against
this - if you want to test the waters, you can challenge them on
this point. A well-known Malaysian blogger was, while in Singapore,
confronted by SMRT staff when he took a photograph of City Hall
station, and got away with it after he challenged them on this gray
area; that was before SMRT formally came out and said that they
prohibit photo-taking in their stations; no word on buses yet as
far as I know.
And - just a word of caution - security staff in Singapore are
brainless, heartless, robotic creatures with absolutely no sense of
humanity at all, so don't ever, ever cross their paths - and it's
extremely to do so in Singapore. Remember that incident where
someone missed her flight at Changi Airport all because she was
explaining to her son what the security staff was doing, mentioned
the word 'bomb', got overheard by oversensitive security staff, and
was detained by them for no rhyme and reason until long after her
flight took off, despite her protests and pleas?
You are right. There's no law which states no phototaking inside
interchanges or terminals. But it is the security reasons that they
have to record your particulars in case of any terrorism happens.
So why not just stop taking photos in interchanges or terminals to
avoid all the troubles?
Ok, now people will start rebutting to me that particulars
should not be given to any people other than policeman. So you want
SBST or SMRT personnel to call for police for your case and be
detained by police do all the questionings in police station?
Or just for their record purposes?
