Commuters again left in the dark after MRT breakdown

I REFER to the MRT train service disruptions on Monday.

Once again, SMRT did not provide sufficient information to the affected commuters that morning, leaving many of them unsure of what to do next.

This is not the first time such an incident has happened.

I can only conclude that both SMRT and ComfortDelGro have no backup or emergency communication plan for such situations.

Let us look at two extreme examples:

The sarin nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway and the London Tube bombing.

I may be exaggerating, but the fact is that if a terrorist attack were to take place on the MRT lines here, the very least the service providers could do is to provide constant updates whenever possible.

I recall an MRT train breakdown sometime in early November last year.

With the breakdown on Monday, that would be two breakdowns in three months. Is it a record that SMRT should be proud of?

And stop giving us the usual reply that SMRT regrets the incident and that it apologises to all affected commuters.

The Land Transport Authority will decide on the fine to be imposed on SMRT after its investigations.

Will the fine serve its purpose?

Will it improve the quality of services provided by the operators? Perhaps, a good penalty would be for the operators to provide free travel for commuters for a fixed period of time.

A fine is of no consequence for a multi-million-dollar company.
It seems that SMRT never learns its lessons, and one wonders when the next breakdown will be.

It is ironic that the breakdown came so soon after the Transport Minister announced on Friday the changes to the public transportation network.

Mr Jason Chiam Chiah Sern

Asia1.com

Ou PTC was too quick and possibly too eager to approve a price hike for our nationalised transportation systems.

Instead of rubber-stamping a price hike, they should have added clauses that will place the transport line on probation.

It is precisely hiccups such as these that pose questions about whether a price hike is justified.

Everyone wants a pay rise, but no one is willing to up the quality benchmark. It seems everyone is taking a leaf out of our ministers' book - take a non value-add pay increase.

Such a gross screw-up by SMRT, without explanation to the public, and devoid of adequate back-up procedures, calls into question those pencil-pushers at the SMRT senior management.

In the private sector, heads will roll over such an embarrassing incident. And this isn't the first time they've had a 'technical fault'. One would think that SMRT should have a recovery plan to combat such flaws to prevent repeat occurence.

but.....but......we're still world-class afterall

garman say world class it is world class..

In the past, the waiting time during non peak hours is around 5 mins, during peak hours it's 2-3 minutes.

These says non peak hours waiting time is 7-6 minutes, peak hours waiting time is 5 minutes.

I appreciate SMRT trying to be efficient and all, but at the expense of jam packing the MRT trains like sardine cans.

These days, it pays to stink while riding the MRT, that way, nobody dare stand or sit beside you.



With SMRT jam packing the trains like sardines in a can, I can definitely not deny that SMRT has become extremely efficient in it's services.

HK is worst, so SMRT and Transit (not sure) are still doing very well

I've already in an earlier Thread said that Govt FU*K UP, when they decided to list SMRT on the Stock Market instead of keeping it 'inside' the Govt.

Any listed companies 1st and only priority is too make MONEY for the Shares Holder..... NOT the transportation Users

SMRT before listing..... made an avg of $100 Million every year. That is after all the tax deduction. As long as SMRT have profit yearly, that should be enough As long as no more tax payer's money is used to support SMRT, that would already be very good Why oh why did they list SMRT and let Shares Holder demand more yearly profit.... therefore forcing SMRT to rise the fare inorder to keep Shares Holder happy SMRT still had to cut manpower inorder to save on manpower costs...... needless to say how well things are maintance nowadays.......

I still remember the main purpose of setting up SMRT was to have a good transportation system to make S'porean willing to give up private cars. But at the cost of rising fares..... how the Hell is that suppose to work

eh, world-class u got hear before or not, mai siao siao ok?

HK is worst, so SMRT and Transit (not sure) are still doing very well

Why compare to Hong Kong?

How difficult is it no nationalize again public services and reverse the trend of profiteering that has so damaged the quality of life in Singapore? Perhaps we need more Raymond Lims.

Originally posted by Poh Ah Pak:

Why compare to Hong Kong?

both are chinese majority society, one of the 4 dragons, almost similar economy structure...etc etc.

that's why i make a comparison

But after my first visit to HK i really like HK. there seem to be an invisible attraction for people to return...

I think there was insufficient competition to allow for creation of the expected classical economic benefits deriving from competition.

Then again hindsight judgements are unfair.

Originally posted by phil30k:

I think there was insufficient competition to allow for creation of the expected classical economic benefits deriving from competition.

Then again hindsight judgements are unfair.

On 'hindsight', Singapore will be number one in everything.

We live in the real flawed world unfortunately...

Originally posted by justcooler:

HK is worst, so SMRT and Transit (not sure) are still doing very well

How do we raise our benchmark for higher standards then if we continue to rate ourselves against worst competition?

Let's rate our police against malaysia's home team and our ministers' standards against those of indonesia....duh...

Our transport operators are NOT nationalised

I can't say much for SMRT... they've roach infested buses

Can a government ''re-nationalise'' a corporation that is in reality its own but only in name ?

During the 1960s through 1970s, all of the essential services in Singapore were provided by various Government controlled Statutory Boards and Public Service Departments.

This divestment of these essential services during the 1990s was part of the glorified 'PRIVATISATION' program; and it was nothing more then a very elaborate Government con-job.

This window dressing exercise in re-structuring and re-organisation simply distance the Government from being seen to be managing these critical essential services.

It remove any public impression of direct involvement in dictating the various service costs that Singaporeans have to pay to the Government.

It added another layer for the Government to cushion and deflect any blame onto themselves for the disastrous policies in the day-to-day operations that affects the public.

Regretably, the privatisation exercise resulted in Singaporeans having to pay higher costs for these essential services that are managed by ''early-retired'' Civil Servants, who are rewarded for their loyal political service with the opportunity to earn mega-dollars as befitting CEOs of Private Corporation.

Is it any wonder that Singaporeans are saddled with high costs, while jaded Public Servants operate such public services from their cloistered ivory towers ?

who said the public transportation system is world class?

i would say it is convenient compared to some countries...

Of course Singapore's public transport is excellent if you compare to worst examples in developing countries. The rationale should be we ought to be comparing to better standards in the more developed country to see where we can progress or perhaps innovate to make our public transport system truly world-class.

Catching up with the West does not make us world-class. Being able to not only catch up but also invent a new flavour would make us world-class.

... "World Class"....

Disruptions: SMRT explains

Even as SMRT sought to explain in detail Monday's seven-hour train disruption, commuters encountered a minor glitch late last night. Train services on the North-South line were delayed when a defective train was forced to offload passengers at Raffles MRT Station at about 11.10pm.
.
It then proceeded slowly to Newton station, in turn causing following trains to slowdown. SMRT said there was no halt to service and trains were back up to speed within 30 minutes.
.
In a statement yesterday, the train operator said Monday's disruption between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah MRT stations was caused by an accident between a locomotive and a maintenance vehicle. It said recovery of the vehicle – known as a rail-grinding vehicle – was slow as officers did not want to damage the tracks.
.
It added that more than 400 staff were activated as early as 4.40am to assist commuters and resume service. It deployed 70 buses because this was the maximum number possible without disrupting regular services islandwide, to ferry passengers from Pasir Ris, Tampines and Simei stations to Tanah Merah. But the buses were slow in transferring these commuters because of heavy traffic on the roads.
.
Responding to grouses from the public that they were kept in the dark about the situation, SMRT said regular updates were sent to radio and television stations from as early as 5.10am, and subsequently at half- to one-hour intervals. These were in addition to SMRT's normal travel information channels.
.
SMRT said it recognises there is room for service improvement and would take all feedback into consideration when refining its plans.

i think u meant a can of worms

cos.. cacophony means discordant sound and... err most worms don't make any sound.

No system is foolproof lah..... although it's true that the SMRT mgt can do better lor - like appointing TS to be the Supreme Director of Operations.......

I'm surprised that such a letter, more to the "extreme" side is published by the newspaper authorities. Usually they would never publish a letter in such a harsh tone.

Anyway, maybe the Land Transport Review (for rail services which will be announced soon) will bring some changes for the MRT system? And I am sure that the Government would definitely want to do something to improve the MRT situation.

As I quote from you guys here, "SG is more like the (you know who) business empire", improving the rail system would definitely be something they want to do so as they would need to get us around quickly and efficiently to slog for the economy the best possible way.

Originally posted by simnatic:

I'm surprised that such a letter, more to the "extreme" side is published by the newspaper authorities. Usually they would never publish a letter in such a harsh tone.

Anyway, maybe the Land Transport Review (for rail services which will be announced soon) will bring some changes for the MRT system? And I am sure that the Government would definitely want to do something to improve the MRT situation.

As I quote from you guys here, "SG is more like the (you know who) business empire", improving the rail system would definitely be something they want to do so as they would need to get us around quickly and efficiently to slog for the economy the best possible way.

Yap agree, something will be done to improve the system, but i only worry when 1c is invested to improve the efficiency 2c are taken out of us for the effort

ONLY EXCLUSIVELY IN S’pore, that SMRT is able to perform a F_U_C_KED UP JOB & CAN STILL GET AWAY WITH IT, & the people can do nothing about it who seems like are at the mercy of SMRT, & still able to constantly SUCK OUT the PEOPLE’s BLOOD. Their service is 200% not value for money, SMRT is a really mutha fu_cka vagina company. WELCOME TO HELL IN A BUS!!!

Why complain abt price hike?
As the economy grows so does the living costs. Happens in every city.
Be happy that Singapore's transport costs to GDP per capita is one of the lowest.

The world is never perfect.

And the price hike, according to LTA, is to maintain a percentage profit margin in accordance to other transport companies. Duno whether u can believe it or not though.

The trains are only cramped because u consider it cramped. There's very little body contact because we dun like it.
There's a limit to how frequent a train comes as well. I feel sorry for train operators in their already tiresome schedules.