Singapore's Public Transport

Last week, I had the chance to visit Singapore. This is my second visit to the island after the first visit when I was still very very young. I took a bus from Larkin Bus Station to Singapore instead of driving. The reasons are that I don't have any GPS and I'm not familiar with the roads there. Besides driving around the island costs quite a sum of money. So the simple solution was to take the public transport. Besides, Singapore is dubbed to have one of the most effective public transportation system. So I really wanted to experience it myself. These are my findings of their public transportation system that Malaysia can improve on:

• The most obvious difference is that Singapore's main rail system is using the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system instead of our Klang Valley's Light Rail Transit (LRT) system. The difference between these two systems is that MRT caters for bigger crowd as compared to LRT. MRT has wider and longer trains. There are MRT and LRT lines in Singapore with the latter built only to cater for small housing areas and integrated to the main lines. But our LRT lines are build for the whole of Klang Valley. I do hope for the proposed Kota Damansara-Cheras line, it will be a MRT instead of LRT to cater for the growing crowd. If costs is an issue, I do hope the authorities will do the first thing right. Instead of building another LRT, its wiser to build a shorter MRT line and later extend the line when the funds are available. MRT and LRT have different requirements such as station size, width of platform, rail size etc. Its better to have the fundamental in place rather than building something that will only last for the next 10 years.
  
• What makes their system efficient is that it only uses single ticketing system regardless of any lines you are taking. There are 4 MRT lines and 3 LRT lines. Our different rail systems require us to buy new tickets when we switch lines. Our own rail system consists of Ampang Line, Kelana Jaya Line, Monorail and KTM Komuter. Every switch is really a hassle when you need to buy new tickets.
• At the MRT stations, the escalators are generally faster unlike ours. In simple terms, the escalator's speed is not the same as the one used in shopping malls. Its faster because the general need of commuters who are always on the go.
• Most of their citizens do not buy tickets at the vendor machines. Only tourists do. They pay for their ride using a card payment system similar to our Touch 'n Go. Since usage of Touch 'n Go among Malaysian commuters are still low, the government's decision to give fare discounts for Touch 'n Go users starting next year are timely and most welcomed.
• Door openings of their trains are wider as compared to ours. This eliminates the problem of packing the exit door when commuters are still coming out of the trains. Simple solutions like this do go a long way in eliminating such petty problems. It does come down to the commuters own attitude while using the service as well.
• A network of rail system is certainly incomplete without buses. There are lots of buses interchange at the MRT stations. You only need to know which station to go and the rest of the journey will be with the bus. There are certainly not many bus interchange within our rail system. This need to be improved if we want to encourage more commuters to use the public transport. And the bus interchange should be a proper one. Not just a mere bus stop.

These are among the findings that I could gather from my one day visit to Singapore. I plan to forward these suggestions to the Department of Railways for improvement of our public transportation system. Should you have any other suggestions, please include them in the comments section. I would compile and send all of them.

For a better public transportation system.