Stepping into Europe

Arriving in Munich on 24th March, it was snowing and freezing like hell. Condensation could be observed when I left the airport to take the S-bahn (street train). A german approached us if we wanted to share the partner ticket (for up to 5) with him and we did, so the train ride which would have cost us 9euros is now 4euros. Anyway it was a good thing that I made arrangement to Spain where the weather is a lot better, warmer and sunny, at least in Madrid.

Madrid did not get off to a good start with the plane delayed for an hour but the Barajas airport got a magnificent surroundings with mountains and nature. Madrid has very nice streets, cobblestone and the houses that lined these streets all have balcony, those little ones. I like their metro (MRT) system which is similar to Singapore's but a lot more extensive and also need to walk more to change to connecting trains. Interestingly there's 2 types of train doors, 1) all doors open at the station, 2) press a button/lift a lever to open individual doors.

30mins away by train brings you to a very different town of Segovia. Its main attractions are the Roman Aquaduct, Sant Maria Cathedral and the Alcazar fortress.
More details later, I'm in Barcelona now and its very different from Madrid. Adios!

I will complain you!

It always amazes me how people in general, not particularly Singaporeans (I believe such people exist everywhere) like to look at things from just their point of view. People like to complain at anything and everything that did not turn out to favour them. People now regards convenience as an entitlement and demands it. People have failed to recognise that maybe convenience should be more of a personal previlege than an entitlement conferred. This way when things go wrong, people are less likely to feel anger and disppointment.

It is also human nature to blame others first than themselves, these people failed to look at things from the perspective of others. Thoughts of 'They could have done this, or why don't they do that instead?' always surface in their mind but they never go deeper on the possible chain effect or put themselves in the shoes of the other party.

Crowded buses and trains are the common grouses these days, tons of people complain about them. Their suggestion? Get more buses lah. This does seemed to be the most straightforward solution but not many actually delve deeper than just purely getting more buses.

There are at least 300 bus services in Singapore, assuming half of them are always crowded during peak hours and we increase the fleet of these services by just 1 bus each and we will already get at least 150 more buses. Question is, does it really end here?

1) Where do we park these 150 more buses if the interchanges and depot are already at close to max capacity?
Of course if they had sound planning in the first place they would have already considered the option of getting more buses thus would already have plans for that.

2) Who will drive and maintain these buses?
Since its recession now, many people are out of jobs so now there's 150 more jobs? Would you go be a bus captain after you're retrenched? I am not saying its not a decent job but it is a fact that not many people want to do it (long hours, low pay, etc). Same goes for automotive technicians.

3) Who is going to pay for these buses?
New buses cost S$360,000- S$500,000 each, equating to S$54m- S$75m needed to acquire the 150 new buses, not inclusive of spare parts, additional staff and support needed, as well as fuel. Shareholders definitely would not want to bear that costs since it will cost their dividends. The government would not want to bear that cost either where the taxpayers' complaint letters almost drowned them when the GST was increased to 7%.

4) With more buses, do we even have enough roads for every vehicles?
Bus passengers: Build more roads lor.
Government: No land leh.
Bus passengers: More bus lanes lor.
Car drivers: Cause more jam leh.

As you can see, there is no way to satifsy everyone, it is a vicious cycle that never ends. I just want to bring the point that everyone should take things easy and be content.




I also would like to share a rather interesting conversation I overheard (I didn't mean to, he was way too loud) on the way home.

Guy: I was late for work today

Girl: How come?

Guy: I took bus A and reached the bus stop to change to bus B. When I alighted, I saw bus B in front and ran, trying to catch the bus. When I reached the door, before I could knock on the bus door, the bus just left the bay. F**k! (Expletives included in actual conversation)

Guy: I don't care, I am going to write to SBS and demand an explanation why the bus just drove off and did not wait for me.

Girl: Were you late?

Guy: I was at the bus stop on time...

Girl: I meant if you were late for work

Guy: I had to wait for the next bus which came at 9am.


Firstly, buses are never on time, they do have a guide as to what time they are supposed to be at each bus stop but as the name suggests it is just a guide. Even MRTs which have their own tracks are not always on time. Secondly, if you expect such exclusive service, public transport is definitely not recommended. Again as the name suggests, it is for the general public so it has no obligations to wait for you. Thirdly, not everything in this world revolves around you, people must learn to take things easily and no complain at the slightest issue. Wake up to the real world dude, maybe wake up early to catch that bus of yours as well!