recent rail outages

i think if you are reading as a singaporean, you should be very much aware of the train disruptions that plagued mostly SMRT's NSL/EWL and even the newly commissioned Circle Line.

it's interesting to note, NSL/EWL are the nation's core / heavy capacity lines with 6 cars. The CCL was designed as a medium capacity line, that is the reason for 3 cars.

as a layman and touch-and-go public transport enthusiast, i can't comment much on what exactly is wrong that causes all the disruptions. But i feel SMRT has lost much of its focus as a transportation provider which manages the 24 year old core railways that our ex President Ong Teng Cheong worked so hard to push through. Since it is listed in the local stock exchange, their focus in on cost cutting, profit maximisation and growing ancillary revenues, maybe from their shopping xchanges at the various MRT stations.

all these are not wrong, not right. Now that there is possible mismanagement that led to the disruptions today, SMRT has to bring their focus back to their basic purpose - effective and effective transport. Given their state of rail management and public anger today, it might be heading for an overhaul. I hope they can also realise that their bus operations are in dire need of expansion to cope with emergencies. We seen yesterday, there were rail disruptions but alternative means to move on were in bad order - lack of shuttle buses (fyi buses were frantically pulled from feeder services but still not enough), lack of communication.

i don't know how to help SMRT, the PR is not receptive to public's suggestion. I just hope someone with hindsight and foresight can help bring back this operator from its sleep since Miss Saw took over.

tanjong pagar railway, good bye

i have not gotten the chance to grab a train ride to/from this station this year. Sad it has to go though.

my family and i had much memorable time at this train station. Recall from my childhood days, every year we would take a taxi from Bedok and catch the train at 9am to Kluang. During the new year, the station would be very crowded at the old metallic gate. Onboard the non-airconditioned cabin, we would stand or sit near the door till we reach.

hopefully in time to come, i can have some time to board the train from Woodlands. Meantime, good bye!!

MACS - Malaysia Automated Clearance System

recently, i have been a frequent traveller to Malaysia. If you frequently get out of our small dot, you will understand the hassle of filling in white cards, no matter which country.

heard that there is a way to avoid this white card problem, if you get into Malaysia via the land checkpoints. The prerequisite is minimum 4 trips a month. Cost wise, RM30 plus a passport size photo. The arrangement is valid for a year. A sticker will be affixed onto the next empty endorsement page.

although i drive in, for the purpose of this application i decided to take 170 instead. For drivers, park nearby the checkpoint and walk in. The 24 hours "one stop centre" that entertains the MACS application is just located behind the counter where white cards are issued to travellers. If you take any bus in and follow the crowd to the arrival hall, you won't miss this OSC. Take an application form, fill it up, then take a queue number and wait.

my experience
the only problem i faced, there were long queues (peak hour) at the hall. I thought since i was applying for MACS, i can bypass these queues. But the lady told me to first chop my passport at counter 17/18 (MACS lane), then u-turn back to OSC to continue the application. Even for MACS lane, the queue was horrible. Anyway, went to queue at 17, but realised the queue was not moving much after a while. Then i went back to tell the lady, she said counter 18 instead. At counter 18, an immigration uncle came over and said the queue was meant for people with special needs, such as elderly and parents carrying their baby. The queue barely moved 10m in 1.5 hrs. Got a little upset, went back to the lady and told her politely that the queue was really taking too long. Then she got her colleague to 'bypass' the chop and process the application straightaway.

within 15 minutes the sticker was ready. But we lost the interest to continue the queue (my partner did not have MACS), and asked for permission to return to SG via a glass door that leads to the Singapore bound bus bays.

i have to say, despite this sour experience due to the slow-moving queues, their staff are generally polite and on-hand to answer any questions. Just speak to them nicely and in simple english, they will return the favour. This was a far cry from the days of the stuffy and tiny passenger checkpoint before 2009. Appreciate their level of customer service, they have come a long way.

for those who are driving, the medium-term link is also up since early this year, no more F1 circuit course (short-term access) leading to the checkpoint anymore.

other links:

Online application portal

FAQs

my grandma...

it has been close to 2 months... i still get reminded of my grandma.

there is a funeral procession opposite my home, the gongs are bringing her to my mind again.

till now i always regret not having to see her before her death. I am very sad.

political scene seems much alive on internet than now

compared to 2001 and 2006, the Internet is now playing a bigger role in educating our local citizens to be more aware of the political landscape and the effect on our daily lives. Especially citizens born in the 1980s and later. Because it is also this generation that will be impacted from whatever govt policies meted out in the next 5 years.

so a question - would it be a better choice to hold your big ticket purchases (i.e. housing) till the GE is over, because the HDB market would meet an imminent end soon? Or buy now because PAP will soon adjust the 4 room flat price from $400k to $700k? Hmm...

IPT 2/8

till trying to find out Bedok FCC's way of operating their IPT, because i remembered Maju FCC was way better organised...

should list out the sequence of going for IPT -

1. Check-in camera hp outside camp

2. Park my car at the mscp (it's too small, unlike Maju)

3. IPT inpro at some random counter, which they will only announce when it's ready. Long wait and confusing here if there's IPPT and RT going on at the same time.

4. Collect a particular colour tag (they have yellow, blue, green and red to confuse everyone)

5. For session 1, take the CAT test (IPPT). For session 2 today, i went to the gym to take my body "age".



6. At the end of session, prepare to outpro. The person who owns a particular coloured tag and number, say 01, 11, 21, 31, etc will help to collect the tags from next 9 guys. Return the tags and get the outpro receipt in return.

7. Get out of camp.

when love is no longer present...

recently heard that a long time friend of mine parted ways with another friend of mine. Although we are all so mature and close to an age band where such things would be quite unimaginable, it actually happened. The only possible consolation - they aren't married nor they had any shared assets.

i won't know the reason behind, but definitely there must be some great underlying motivation and courage to sever a bond that was in place for years.

i can only hope it was not any temptation involved. I always feel that at the end of the day, differentiate between someone who really loves the other and a 3rd party who temporarily distracted a relationship.

5-10 years ago, we can get together easily, sit down and discuss. That was what i did and many of my friends really gave good advice. But now at our age, it seemed really awkward to talk about it, since each of us would appreciate some privacy and decisions especially in matters of the heart.

class 95 morning express

sometimes it's good to wake up early and join the rush hour drive to whichever customer in my schedule. Otherwise i wouldn't turn on the radio.

what FD and Glenn said seemed funny but were somewhat true and more importantly, made sense. These are roughly what they said, but not exactly word-by-word

"girls always think they can change their men. Then 5 years down the road, they realise they couldn't get married with that guy because it finally seemed impossible."

"sometimes the man actually changes, the girl regretted it."

i think the best is not to harbour expectations. But some of us are little perfectionists and tend to micro-manage things. I hope myself and friends around me would not turn a relationship into a doctor-patient problem. If there's things to remedy all the time, something is extremely wrong.