Our Trains Keep You Challenged

I’m a reasonable person. I don’t go around asking people to commit suicide. But I think someone, or some people, should certainly take personal responsibility for all the transport screw ups we have been experiencing. The people there, aren’t you even a little embarrassed about what’s happening?

At some point, I think we’ve had enough. Say how much you’re disappointed, how much the situation is unacceptable, investigate all you want. At the end of the day, it all comes to nought. Things are not improving at all.

Every time, we’re led to believe that, either, the problems are isolated, or that they are already being improved upon. However, problems after problems keep coming back. Surely all these are indicative of some other more systemic problem. It’s not just about the parts being lousy that they break down, it’s not just about the maintenance not being up to standards. Perhaps it is much, much, more. An organisational problem perhaps. Not just within the operator, but perhaps even in the regulator.

LTA needs to do more. Not just sit on the sidelines and express disappointments, collect fines, and do PR. None of these are working. I hope our transport minister knows that. I’d expect our premium-salaried cabinet is smart enough to know that. Of course whether they care to do something or not is a completely different matter.

As you might have heard by now, the Bukit Panjang LRT system is out of action this morning. It has been out of action since last evening. It’s the entire system. I think we’re damn lucky. Imagine this happened on the entire North-South line, or the East-West Line, or both. It’s like how the two lines had their opening hours postponed on 18 December 2011, following multiple massive breakdowns.

There was a power trip, and a fire had broken out at one of the LRT stations. SMRT had reported that an electrical component overheated and caught fire. I can see how this incident is going to get played out.

Granted the Bukit Panjang LRT is a small system, the real impact to commuters will not be terribly significant. But I hope this is a timely reminder to the authorities, that the situation we’re in is not good at all. There was a fire this time around, which was pretty much uneventful in that no one was injured. Please do not be happy that everything has under control.

LTA’s and SMRT’s taglines, “We Keep Your World Moving” and “Moving People, Enhancing Lives,” is almost a joke. They keep throwing challenges to commuters. Every day you wake up wondering, what new transport problems will we get today?