I was walking along Aurora Boulevard to the tricycle terminal just off Broadway when I passed by a store that sells finger foods like kikiam, siomai, fish and squid balls. Guess what the name of the store was? “Kik Mai Bols”. Hahaha. I just managed to stifle my laughter when I read the name. I bet it was a guy who came up with the name.
When we arrived in Singapore, Selle, a friend of my companions, met us. She provided us each with Easy Links, an ATM sized re-loadable ticket that can be used for commuting in the bus and MRT. From the airport lobby we rode the escalator (I was surprised at its speed) down to the MRT platform. She took us to what looked like an ATM where we loaded our Easy Links with S$10 each. It was a few minutes more before it really dawned on me that the place where we waited was the train platform. It was very clean and spacious. So was the train when it arrived. There were only few passengers because the airport was an end station. What was surprising was that even though it was mostly empty, some passengers preferred to stand. When the train began to fill up, I noticed that unlike here in the Philippines, the passengers don’t crowd the other passengers just so that they can take a seat. They respect the boundaries that defined the seats.
I really enjoyed looking at the far side of the train because you can see the snake-like swaying movement when the train moves. Another nice surprise was that you do not need to take out your easy link from you bag or wallet in order to swipe it. Just swipe the portion of your bag where you stored your Easy Link.
Furthermore, every train station has a mall, even though some are small. There are also stations where you get off so that you can transfer to another line. When getting off the train you’ll hear the recording “Please mind the platform†over and over again. The East-West Line is coded green while the North-South Line is red and the North-East Line is purple. Most of the train stations have doors along the tracks that open only once the train doors open to prevent passengers from accidentally falling into the tracks while waiting. The best thing about the trains is that you don’t need to wait for very long for the next train. I was told that during rush hours there are trains every four minutes. So there was no need for the people to push each other just to get on the train.
However, their MRT is not perfect. Like its counterpart in the Philippines, it also suffers from breakdown. During our second to the last day in Singapore, we saw an announcement in the station that there were some technical problems that affected the passengers from Pasir Ris to Tanah Mera. Good thing it was opposite to where we were going. Another example was while we were waiting to get off at City Hall to transfer to the Red Line, the train started to stop then lurched again because it stopped a few inches shy of the station door.
During my stay, I was able to ride all the three lines. MRT is a very good way to travel in Singapore because it is fast, efficient, accessible and inexpensive. I hope that in the future, MRT and LRT in the Philippines can be as well-developed and well-planned as in Singapore.
