Singapore vs Tokyo - MRT vs Trains, Subway, & Shinkansen

I have been living in Singapore for about 2 years. The impression i have for Singapore MRT is pretty good. You know, convenient, timing accurate, not like the one in Kuala Lumpur. It was hopeless. Now the Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT are being constructed. Hopefully it would be run in a first class manner.

I went to Tokyo about 3 weeks ago. Then i get to experience the public transport system over there. It was great, even when compare to the Singapore's. In Tokyo they don't really call it MRT. They are Trains and Subway, run by dozen of companies. Singapore MRTs were run by two, SMRT & SBS. Now we don't compare on the quantity of companies or number of lines.

Tokyo Subway Route Map

Singapore MRT Map 2012

First thing, speed. MRT of Singapore, in average travel at about 50-60km/h, with occasional stops in between stations, for no reason whatsoever. Maybe the one in front is late moving out from the station. I mean, SMRT or SBS should have had done it better. Whereas Tokyo, even the slowest train easily travels at about 100km/h with no stop in between stations. In fact they have rapid line which bypass low traffic stations so that you could get to your destination faster. Of course you can only do so if you are alighting at stations which the rapid line does stops. What about the Shinkansen aka bullet train? Well, you can tell by its name.

The distance between stations, as far as i have seen, there is none closer than 2km. In Singapore however, it stops like every 1km or less. The travel time/km is much higher than Tokyo's. Of course when you have stations further away from each other you need to walk further or take buses to reach there. But that is the whole point of having buses to compliment the entire transportation system right? Why having buses while you have trains stopping every 1km? It is a waste of resources.

To make travel using bus better preferred, the time table shown in the bus stations shall be deadly accurate. Thus it allows people to estimate accurately the time they need to travel from one destination to another. Less time is spent waiting at the bus station as well, because you know that the bus will reach at exactly 3.15pm, and not plus minus 5 mins of 3.15pm. Buses in Tokyo never move out from its station earlier than the time shown in each stations. Of course the estimated time to travel from one stations to another is highly accurate too.

I wrote about Singapore MRT when i first came to Singapore. That was nearly 2 years ago. The Circle Line was not complete back then. Now it travels through Pasir Panjang and terminating at Harbour Front.

Amid recent constant breakdowns of Singapore MRT, there are a lot the management of SMRT needs to be done to resolve it. Before the name of Singapore MRT got worse.

Beware of becoming Old

With the Love The Way You Lie & Not Afraid Mashup video circulating around the whole Facebook network, Jason Chen became a name that everybody knows, suddenly.

Just a Dream cover by Jason Chen & Joseph Vincent

It is amazing how things can change at such fast. For one moment you are not, and the next you are. This is how fast one could rise, and perhaps falls too. The internet open up all the possibilities. If you think you are good at something, go get a good video camera and start recording at yourself and upload it to the internet. Bamm!! You're famous!

Hogging on to the internet via social networking websites i.e. Facebook, reading blogs written by friends are how you keep yourself updated to one another these days. If there is anything you want to know, just remember to Google it. However some people believe in not-too-dependent on the internet and chose to rely on face to face communication. They afraid that this might become the only way people communicate in future.

Embrace the change i must say. Otherwise you definitely will lose out. Speed up the rate you obtain information. That is of real importance these days. When you are there mushrooming don't know what to do for a particular day, start by visiting Facebook. From there find anything that interest you and carry on from there. There's nothing bad about it really. Use the internet to achieve your dreams. That's what i thought.

However, one needs to know when you hanging out with friends but you keep checking out your cellphone is kind of irritating. I myself find it very turn-off to me if the girl i'm dating with were like that. I would rather go home sleeping than dating a girl like that. Just keep the device off for a second and spend time talking to your friends. If you're alone then the mini computer inside your pocket is definitely your best friend but not any other time.

Do you know Oxford Dictionary is on its way to stop producing the a-few-inches-thick book because no body is buying it in the US anymore? Plus it is no green cutting off trees to make books. Give it another decade books may become antique already. So start embracing the habit of reading the internet instead. Do it constantly, when you are alone, not with friends.

You know how people became old? Not through physical body fitness deterioration but the refusal to change and keep yourself relevant to the society. You know what?  I know a guy who is around 80 years old and he got better computer skills than me. That's how i will define young.

China is not my home but Malaysia is

Now almost everybody is in Singapore. I can actually find more close friends here than in Malaysia. It is really ironic. Why Malaysia allow this to happen? Why can't Malaysia economy is as good as Singapore? If not better.

I always wonder when our leaders will stop fighting each other and really work towards a better tomorrow for our country. I don't even bother to read those news that bear the title with a politicians name on it anymore. I think it is wasting my time. Too much are said and little are done. I wish to see Malaysia is really a Bolehland. Not just a popular slogan for the purpose of... actually i don't know why we always have to say we boleh? why don't we just stop saying we boleh and actually do something to change for better. It's meaningless!

Amid this Merdeka month, it is really sad to see remarks such as "go back China" can actually be heard. And that actually spoken to a third generation Malaysian. What does this imply? That the person is never a Malaysian? We are sick and immature. The PM said there is zero tolerance for racist remarks but little have done to deter this to happen. Otherwise we would not have to go through this kind of situation. There are too many rules differentiate the people of Malaysia. If there is no such rules, then everybody will be the same. We should be the same regardless of our skin tone.

I will come home one day and help Malaysia to grow (i hope i able to). And when i'm back, i hope i feel welcomed. All the best Malaysia!

Singapore MRT

Recently the government of Malaysia announced the plan to build a new MRT to boost the country's public transport usage from 18% in 2009 to 40% by 2020. Total budget would cost up to RM 50 billion.

If this really materialized, and everything really goes as planned, it certainly makes travelling in KL much more pleasant. Hopefully, something is done on the public bus as well. Integrating this two major transportation system. Then i could proudly say my country has a comprehensive transportation system, at least in KL.

However, that is not what i really want share with you right now, but instead, the Singapore MRT. I live in Pasir Panjang now which has no MRT station nearby but in a year or two perhaps, there would be one as i already see there are construction going on at my place. You see the difference in between Malaysia's and Singapore's, is that the latter is always improving, solve the problem before it arising.

The Current Singapore MRT lines

The Future Singapore MRT lines

I came across this so called Future Singapore MRT lines from one of my friend's blog writing his experience traveling to Singapore. Although i'm not sure it is from a reliable sources or not, i believe it will be materialized, somehow or rather.

The line is being extended from time to time and more stations are constantly added to the existing line. They wait for no body but instead, planned, prepared and wait for the needs and demand to come. If only Malaysia is as prepared as Singapore.

Singapore Cont'...

• I got off the bus that i have traveled in for 7.5 hours and i got in one of this taxi below... I mean... Wow!! I think this was the nicest taxi i have ever got on... It was very comfortable inside... and what's best was the driver... He was a middle aged male with a beard... and was very friendly indeed... chatted with me the whole journey from Jurong's stop to NUS's Prince George's Park Residences... it costs me 7SGD...

Hyundai Sonata Cab

• Well i thought the above is the nicest it could ever get... then i saw this...
  
  
Mercedes Benz Cab...

Compare with this below...



Proton Iswara Taxi

I was like OMG!! How they managed to make a business out of it...? Considering how much the car itself costs... how much they will charged their passengers...? Although it is not as many as the ordinary ones in the street but it is not so rare either... you could spot one of those quite frequently if you are in city centre... There were really demands for that...? Or the fare are just reasonable...? But if reasonable... back to the first question... how they make money...? Haha!! I don't know... perhaps i should try one this when i got a chance...


• The next thing i like was this...
  
  EZ link Card (TouchN'Go for SG)
  
  Well... This thing could be used for buses and MRT trains... no surprise... but it was its system that got me impressed... Everytime you get on a bus... you tap for the first time it is consider a "new ride"... later you get off the bus and you tap again and it would charge you according to how far you have traveled... e.g. 1SGD... If your final destination requires you to change to other bus or MRT... provided you use the card within 30 minutes... you get in and tap again... this time "transfer" would appear... and you will only be charged a few cents extra... It help you saves... the system actually recognize your cards and it connects through out the whole Singapore...
  
  
• I was on a bus with my friends... what surprised me at first was the driver was a middle aged local Chinese woman(i guess) who speaks very fluent English... I mean very seldom you will see a woman driving bus right...? Cause you know... it is a big vehicle...
  
  My friends and I were wondering whether we were taking the correct route and thus we decided to ask the driver for further information... then she explained in a very detail way... which we very much appreciated... and once my friend got the hang of it... she still continue explaining... she did seems very sincere and afraid that we might get lost... and finally we got off the bus... and while we are discussing at the bus stop about where should we go... she never drove off and she was waving from her driver's seat trying to signal us the correct direction to go for... haha...!! I mean her service was very commendable...
  
  Suddenly i realised why sometimes i will feel discomfort when i need to ask people for directions... because not all people will give so much assistance to a stranger... and you scare bothering them... but this one... it really changes my perception about seeking assistance... Next time i think i wont be so "paiseh" in seeking assistance especially in SG...
  
  
• When i am in Malaysia... i will probably be extra careful during the nights... girls are advised to not walking alone in streets... lock your door while you were out... put in some extra locks preferably... all this was due to the fact that the endless criminal acts soaring in our country... snatch thieves being the most popular... helmet gang... burglary during middle of the night... but here at Singapore i bet you will feel otherwise...
  
  Consider this... for two days i was in Singapore... i witnessed two good deeds the people there have done...
  
  first... seeing a lady dropped his cash notes as he walks off the ticket counter... seconds later a person beside who saw it quickly picked up and identified the lady and ran towards the lady to return the cash notes to her(the lady was walking quite fast)...
  
  Second... I was in the bus sitting in close proximity to the driver... and a lady walked right through me with her hand holding a cell phone... she approached the driver and handed him the cell phone and started explaining... apparently she was giving the cell phone left behind by other passenger at her seat to the driver so that in case the passenger came back could find their phone...
  
  I don't think i will witness this kind of incidents back in Malaysia... at least not yet... most would have pocketed the cash notes and taken the cellphone they found with them...
  
  
  
  
  
  Some of my friends said most probably what i seen was just the surface and i not yet come to the down side of Singapore... Hmm... yea... probably i will see the down side... but then again... I just thought there are so much for us to learn... for ourselves and for our government... we just need to absorb the good that might benefit us...
• 
  Some of the other things i would like to share...
  
  
Floating Stadium

How cool was that...? Check it out here if you wanna know more...

Also... They were building this weird-angled building with sky park on top of it... almost near completion...




Check out more about Marina Bay Sands here...

It seems to me there are a lot impressive things going on there... caught me to thinking what if Malaysia was also something like that...??

Singapore

As most of you may have already know that i will be working in Singapore soon... out of boredom i YouTube-ed Singapore... these were those that caught my attention...

Construction of the MRT new subway tunnel
What i particularly like about this was it mentioned some brief history background of Singapore... and how transportation affects its economy activities... also how much they willing to go to make sure they achieve their visions...

Future of Singapore in 2015
I've seen some similar clips about high-tech gadgets of the future... Pranav Mistry... A student from MIT in the popular talk shows TED Talks... this video however integrated Singapore with the "sophisticated future" we are going to experience...

Just another month left before i'm off to Singapore... very much looking forward to it... I will come back with some experiences of my visit there for my job interview at Singapore in my coming post... stay tuned... :)

Narrow-mindedness...

Who doesn't use Facebook today...? It is kind of no-brainers just to even think of it... No one can resist this trend... social medium like Facebook will eventually became an indispensable part of one's life... if you are not using now... i'm sure one day you will...

Looking at today The Star Online news... "Najib a big hit on Facebook"... This even further confirmed my statement above... Apparently even the PM now has a fans page and he also TWEETS with his fans... i must say our PM is quite a contemporary... and it is a good thing... not that i'm trying to mock him...

Facebook nowadays is more than just a platform for individuals to stay connected to each other... due to its immensely huge network... 350million users and increasing... it is now becoming a business ground for entrepreneurs and big companies... AirAsia for example... uses its fans page to stay connected and informed them with the latest happenings and products of AirAsia... and there's lot more other than AirAsia...

Though the initial intention of Mark Zuckerberg was just to use it as a web page showing Harvard college's hot babes... with headshot photos for people to vote and rate them to provide rankings... now Facebook is way more than that... and now he is damn rich with net worth of US dollar 2 billions... as you can see... great things can come from a thing that initially many thought it might not be good...

In this information rich era... one can benefit a lot from the internet... and if one fail to realise that then he/she will be left behind... pornographic materials are easily available nowadays... blocking such websites wouldn't help... so personally i don't care if all the porn websites are blocked or not... but please not other websites... especially business related... stocks... real estate and brokerage... and perhaps some other websites that i don't know it is blocked... USM conferred as APEX University means nothing... if all the management staffs failed to realise that we are now in the information age... not industrial age... information is money...

No more FortiGuard Please...

Concerning this... i would like to urge the PPKT of USM engineering campus... unblock all the websites and give me freedom to surf the internet... especially facebook and blogspot... is time to change my dear university authorities... please think in a larger perspective...

By the way... Mark Zuckerberg was only 25 at the moment when this was written...