Yesterday I wanted to go to this place called Orange Grove Road which is somewhere near Orchard. I do not know where this road is located, I only know I can take bus no. 132 and 105 from the bus stop near Far East Plaza. So when a bus no. 132 arrived at the bus stop, I hopped on it and showed the map of the place to the driver. I asked him whether this bus goes to this particular place (the RELC building at Orange Grove Road) and he said yes. Of course I believed him and went on to take the bus.

After a few bus stops, he stopped the bus and told us that we had reached the destination but we would have to walk in through the pathway opposite the bus stop. We got down at this bus stop at Orchard Boulevard at around 3.55pm and walked down the pathway he had pointed out. We walked one round and still couldn't find the place we were looking for!

We reached the bus stop at Orchard Boulevard again after one big round and when we looked at the map in the bus stop, we were shocked to note that Orange Grove Road is actually a few stops before Far East Plaza. Which means we shouldn't have gotten into the bus and should have crossed the road and took the bus opposite the plaza instead. But why did the bus driver told us it is okie to take his bus and caused us to waste money and time looking for it in the wrong place?

And this is not the first time either. Last time when I went up a bus in Woodlands and asked if the bus driver knows where is the Woodlands Sports Center, he replied to me that he doesn't know even when his bus is supposed to be passing through there. Is it common for bus drivers nowadays to not be familiar with the routes they are driving through anymore?

more to come when PRC drivers start to join us....

he knows his route.

but doesnt know the buildings/road names bypassing his route.

so he still is a qualified bus driver!!

must budget mah.

soon got PRC, u wudnt even get your queries across but replied with a..."si mo?"

haha go RELC take exams?

Originally posted by sinicker:

he knows his route.

but doesnt know the buildings/road names bypassing his route.

so he still is a qualified bus driver!!

must budget mah.

soon got PRC, u wudnt even get your queries across but replied with a..."si mo?"

Actually u all dunno how clever are the PRC driver. In china, they drive coach, big lorries for a long distance. What is Singapore to them when Singapore is so small and for them they can maybe take less than a month to get use to the road.

Originally posted by chickenlittle2:

Actually u all dunno how clever are the PRC driver. In china, they drive coach, big lorries for a long distance. What is Singapore to them when Singapore is so small and for them they can maybe take less than a month to get use to the road.

Well... what if an Indian asks for road directions?

They may know the route but they may not know the shortcuts/services passing by/building names around the route.

Originally posted by chickenlittle2:

Actually u all dunno how clever are the PRC driver. In china, they drive coach, big lorries for a long distance. What is Singapore to them when Singapore is so small and for them they can maybe take less than a month to get use to the road.

ur reply would do good with factual evidence.

otherwise, it's like shaking an empty drink can.

take it easy ,everybody make mistakes

Well, you cannot fault him.

He knows his bus route (i.e. where he has to turn and etc), but he doesn't know the surroundings of his route.

I mean, you can expect even more of these when the PRC drivers come in

Direction Blind. Even some of our SAF officers also fail their topo. They can bring the whole bn or convoy up the lorry.

Anyway, you should take a bus to STEVENS RD instead and walk to RELC Int Hotel. Nearer compare to walk from TANGLIN/ORC RD.

Originally posted by Oceane:

Well... what if an Indian asks for road directions?

They may know the route but they may not know the shortcuts/services passing by/building names around the route.

Do u think the all current BC knows very well? Some malaysians BC cannot even speak proper English too. Ask them fare they need to check for a long time.

Originally posted by sinicker:

ur reply would do good with factual evidence.

otherwise, it's like shaking an empty drink can.

If you work with China people before you would know.

some of them are new drivers so they don't know the route lah

Orange grove...you go there for FJ Benjamins interview job ar

they know the route.

they don't know the building names

The title is misleading.

I read the content and went: cheh....

Some drivers are standby or replacement BCs so they might not know the route very well. Imagine driving service A for years and suddenly go route B. I may be a little exaggerated but you should get the gist.

Originally posted by kopiosatu:

they know the route.

they don't know the building names

I never told him just the building name leh...I told him the road it is on also and the roads surrounding it...I even told him the surrounding buildings, such as the PineTree Club and also Raffles Girl's Sch...

Originally posted by rainee:

I never told him just the building name leh...I told him the road it is on also and the roads surrounding it...I even told him the surrounding buildings, such as the PineTree Club and also Raffles Girl's Sch...

Too confusing for him. Driver not wrong coz he kena confused by you liao lah.

Originally posted by silverng:

 

some of them are new drivers so they don't know the route lah

Still they should be trained to know the route before they go on the road...

Imagine if you are heading somewhere for an important event and take the wrong bus because the bus driver doesn't know the route or give you wrong information, then how would you feel?

The least he could do is to just tell me that he doesn't know and ask me to go and ask another bus driver...but not mislead me by taking the wrong bus.

Originally posted by Manager433:

Too confusing for him. Driver not wrong coz he kena confused by you liao lah.

What is so confusing?

I told him that I am looking for the RELC building which is located on Orange Grove Road. I showed him the map which shows the nearby PineTree Club and Raffles Girls' Secondary School. If he is familiar with his route he should know that he is going nowhere near that.

The day when our transport co starts hiring china man as bus captain, its as good as telling passengers bring your own street directory with you.

Originally posted by rainee:

What is so confusing?

I told him that I am looking for the RELC building which is located on Orange Grove Road. I showed him the map which shows the nearby PineTree Club and Raffles Girls' Secondary School. If he is familiar with his route he should know that he is going nowhere near that.

So after this incident, you think the driver know the way or he didnt know?

Originally posted by Manager433:

The day when our transport co starts hiring china man as bus captain, its as good as telling passengers bring your own street directory with you.

Sigh...this is giving a bad image of the transportation system. I hope something is really done about it because some of us are really depending on the public transport to get to places. And not all of us are familiar with the streets in Singapore, esp tourists.

relax man.

sometimes some bus driver also v gong one.