According to SMRT regulations, children below 90cm in height do not need to pay to ride the MRT. My baby is only 70cm. Does this mean I have to pay the MRT fare for my stroller?
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Would be interesting to see SMRT’s response. I think they should for once give some leeway in waiving or at least closing an eye for such request…
If strollers are charged, then how about wheelchairs… and of course the list goes on.
And hopefully, the response is not for recovering cost..
And for goodness sake SMRT, dont tell us what the rules states…. If its irrelevant, CHANGE IT.
I think this is a case of an employee trying too hard to justify their existence and trying to follow the previously prescribed belief of profit over common sense.
To be fair I believe this is not something which is mandated by the management as this is just a PR nightmare to manage.
Let’s see how SMRT responds cause as the earlier post mentioned, this could take to the sphere of wheelchair, travel luggages etc. which is gonna be backlash.
I am sure we have all experienced inflexibility in many companies across the world as employee empowerment is limited and from the staff perspective better to err on the side of caution.
Simple answer is P.A.P. Make your guess? This is sad!
It is a case of some SMRT staff making a sensible act to tap open the gate for the lady when she is using stroller and another staff thinks that the lady should just tap and open the gate on her own like any other passenger.
It is more a matter of courtesy and kindness. Hope we see SMRT will be a good role model.
I think its about time SMRT do some research on how other countries are managing their service levels…..
Till today, for the sake of discussing fares, I dont see any agressive programs even to entice a tourist to hop on the train….
If you go to Hong Kong (the moment you step off the arrival gate at the airport) or Bangkok (at its train stations and surrounding vicinity), there are promotions for the visitors like 3 day passes etc….
As you may have read in today’s ST Times Forum, one of the writer to the forum commented on the speed of trains in other cities too.
Imagine a backpacker who’s arrived from say Europe or the US, after a long 10-20 hour flight, in wanting to savour the local culture, they jump into SMRT’s world class transport system and will experience the following ….. rules on what sized luggage you can take on board…. and just when the train departs the station, within 3 minutes, you are informed that you are to alight at the next station and take another train, (there goes their prized seat, not forgetting the long flight they endured earlier)…and along the way to the city, while expecting a packed cabin of commuters, also get to taste the humidity of being in the train thats stuffy…
The point I am trying to put across is..SMRT is too focused on rules and fares…
I must state, rules are important (especially in enforcing security), but if they are irrelevant, there is a need to review it. Fares, yes, there will be cheats and there will be people who abused it. But what percentage are these compared to say the goodwill from hosting the tourist to a subsidized ride and what we call the total experience….
If today SMRT is bleeding on its bottomline, I wont dare ask for more, but if the P&L is healthy, I think setting a budget to accomodate the above (as an example) is definitely not asking too much , I hope…..
(And please, let the strollers through FOC.)
GoodWill
I agree with you! Never tired of going to HK…..good food & shopping spree…so much cheaper than Singapore. Special discount fare for tourists 3 days pass including express round trips to airport and unlimited (free)rides for the trains. What’s a bargain! Not in Singapore………but smelly & the bus public tansports stink of sweat!
Does passing a baby and stroller over the faregates = passing a product/conducting a business transaction over the faregates which = not allowed under SMRT laws = must pay extra fare?
i think mrt have a rule that we cannot pass things to another person outside the grantry waiting for us.
but i think there should be a bit of flexible when how things are done.
case by case basis.
i think if i work for the government there is surely some good and special things.
if cannot do this then i think civil servants should not take special things also.
smrt staff should assist every passenger who need to do things like like ms ang.
rather than stop her.
In HK, commuters/couriers pass documents, parcels, bags, luggages over the barrier all the time.
Ms Ang should just pass the baby and stroller to her mother without the aid of SMRT staff.
I think that SMRT staff is charging her not for the stroller/baby but for extending assistance. Remember, nothing is for free in Singapore.
I agree this is ridiculous
I’m not proposing London Public transport over ours- MRT is far superior! But in London at least the Tube( MRT) is free to all children under the age of 11 (no height definition) and includes the stroller. And the buses are free up to the age of 16. This is to encourage children to go to school on public transport and not by car as State schools don’t run buses. Staff help disabled and needy/ pregnant women etc for free.
However in 7/07 bombings on London Underground the explosives were carried in back packs so it may very well be for our better protection to have regulations on luggage etc.
I guess they need to make more profits to cover the “hefty” fines from PTC.
My own kid reach 90cm when she was 3. I think the London case of using age instead of height is better. Maybe set the age limit at 6 years old.
Here in Singapore, we are all made to pay so much for everything and yet we have to face so many restriction and all sorts of hussles and inconvenience. One very good example is the cut throat ERP gantries which are supposed to control traffic flows, so up till today is there any improvement? Rubbish! infact it is creating more and more jams on those roads while the govt happily continue collecting their $millions every months from the motorist.
Strollers should be banned…those idiotic parents have no idea how much of a nuisance they are during peak times
“13) Ark on April 23rd, 2009 7.53 pm
Strollers should be banned…those idiotic parents have no idea how much of a nuisance they are during peak times”
That is singularly inconsiderate. How would YOU like to be such a parent during peak hours, being hated by people like you?
Passing things over is just plain annoying. It’s not like they’re holding up anyone’s way. What, is it going to cost SMRT $10,000 every year if someone passes a baby over an MRT barrier? Crazy.
mrt staff should assist ms ang to the fullest.
but if the mrt staff boss or the government do not allow them to do so, then no choice.
they are working also.
but it will be goos that mrt like sbs and smrt can announce the things that can and things cannot then debate in parilment to pass a legaisation
to prevent further disputes.
mp do something
This is exactly what I resent about the Forum page in the Straits Times.
You get Singaporeans moaning and sweating about the small stuff such as this issue (or more ludicrous example such as consumers b*tching about poor workmanship on products bought or the state of toilets in Vivocity etc).
It is so rare to see a letter published that touches on genuine sociopolitical matters. A cynic would say that this is how the Straits Times select letters to publish. It allows the readers (citizens) complain about the mundane, the small and the inconsequential matters – but deliberately steers clear of any matters that might cause readers to think or have a healthy debate about sociopolitical issues affecting them. Where are the letters on the Public Order bill? Where are the letters debating about government measures in the GFC? Where are the letters talking about the state of the opposition?
This seems to me like the deliberate dumbing down of the citizenry. I am concerned.
Are you?
All children should be given free ride up to 12 years old like the case in London.. They can’t work and are not earning an income, society should be gracious enough to accommodate and embrace these young growing children.
The current 90cm height rule would meant that children as young as 3-4 years
need to pay to ride on publlic transport. This rule has to be abolished fast
as it is very ridiculous to base on height to decide who should pay.
It’s like being penalised for being taller although two children are of the
same age. I hope the PTC would look into such areas where transport
operators are not being fair to young children in having the 90cm rule.
2000 dollars fine for passing things over the gantry, but they are only fines 100 dollars for over-crowded facility.
they earn millions monthly. to be fair, they should be fined 100k.
Our society is not gracious at all. No wonder jackie chan is harping on it.
My son is extremely close to 90 cm (because of his curly hair) and he is only 2 years old (28 months to be exact)! I think this 90 cm rule is completely unfair. I take him into and out of mrt stations in his stroller as much as possible.