STAR BLOGGERS

I was walking along a bus interchange when a banner caught my eyes (apparently, that was the only banner there). It says something like “Take Public Transport, Go Green, Save the Earth”.

 So, one morning when you woke up at eight and you are supposed to be in the office by eight-thirty, we should still heed the advice and go green? I mean, who will care about the environment, when the main concern is about making sure that you don’t get a pay cut from being late for work? But seriously, the thought that comes to you should be: The bus is surely going to be too crowded. I won’t be able to get in. I’ll better take the cab.

 To be frank, LTA is setting a large goal by aiming to increase the public transport usage to 70% by 2020. Didn’t Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar and Adam Khoo mention about setting challenging but realistic goal? Oh, they drive.

 If I can wait for less than twenty minutes for a bus, and still manage to squeeze into the crowded bus, and reach my destination in one piece, then yes, 70% of the population is willing to sell off their cars and take the bus. But every day, we hear complaints about buses that take forever to come, buses that are too crowded and buses that brake like they are training for the next Formula One race.

 So this is just like getting a baby to drink from an empty baby bottle.

 From my understanding, if you want me to take the bus, you must at least provide me with a bus that brings me to my destination in time. But is the Government doing enough? Newspapers report that the Public Transport Council fined the two main bus companies for $200 and $500 respectively for being late or overcrowding. I think the bosses in the bus companies should be thinking, “We are fined? That is fine… ”

 I have always expected high-ranking executives to be solutions-oriented. Apparently, all the complaints I have seen made to them were slapped with excuses of “unpredictable traffic”. So, what happened to those complaints made in the bus interchange? The buses were unable to move out from the parking lots? And how about the overcrowding issue? COE is too high and bus companies are waiting for COE to drop?

 So, stop asking us to take the bus, when you cannot even provide one that works for us. And stop comparing us with other countries. There, the cost of a car is so much lower. If LTA wants to achieve their goal, stop giving us excuses and start planning solutions.

Low Kay Hwa, a twenty-four-year-old novelist who just completed his NS about a month ago, has written seven novels. About 27,000 copies of his books have been sold, with readers from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. Check out his company’s website at www.goodybooks.com