The first 2 articles of this morning's TNP is talking about commuter behaviour on public transport. Shall talk about the first one since the second article is in overseas context.

The first one - Fine for eating sweets - TOO STRICT?

Basically I think SMRT needs to review their policy of no eating & drinking on board trains. Fine, people STOMP other inconsiderate commuters eating noodles or rice on board public transport, and the stench is awful. Fine I consider that as inappropriate behaviour too. But drinking plain water?

For goodness sake humans need water. Be it a 10-minute journey, a 30-minute one or a 1 hour one. It's totally against human rights to ban drinking even the basic of liquids - plain water on board the train. So yeah, TNP interviewed SMRT, and they gave a set of ridiculous responses. I shall type out what they said.

"The New Paper asked SMRT if there will be exceptions for certain cases. For instance, what if a commuter has to take his medication? 'Passengers who need to take medication, including lozenges for sore throat, may approach out station staff for assistance,' a spokeman said. 'Special arrangements can be made for these passengers to take their medication within our station premises. Bla bla bla (The bottom part isn't important).'

What about drinking plain water? The spokesman said: 'Although a liquid may be clear, it is not possible to tell if it is plain water or flavoured. Besides, like all other liquids, when spilled onto the foor, it could result in puddles that could cause passengers, for example, children and the elderly, to slip.'" - TNP 25/07/09

Let's take a look at what was said. People that need medication NEED TO ASK FOR PERMISSION to consume. What the shit is this. So if someone urgently needs to take his medication on board a train from YCK to Khatib (the notoriously long 5 minute journey) he cannot, because what if there wasn't any staff around? I find this totally unacceptable and ridiculous.

And next, how do you tell whether clear water is plain water or flavoured? Stupid people don't even know that plain water, is transparent, flavoured transparent water like sprite has BUBBLES? So their science all phails. So does their EQ. Even flavoured non-gassy drinks, like lychee for example, may look transparent but in actual it's TRANSLUCENT. So if they can't tell plain water from flavoured water, I think they seriously need to study P5 science again!

There's a thin line between what is actually ethically right and what not. Do you see people STOMPing other commuters for drinking PLAIN WATER? Only the more exceptional cases like having a meal on board the train gets snapped by citizen journalists. So what is the effing problem that drinking plain water isn't allowed?

Anyway based on my own experience, having related with non-customer-service SMRT staff (drivers) and those from the customer relations (you should know what I mean) side, those non-customer-service staff are actually more polite and understanding. How IRONIC right? I filed a complaint to SMRT 2 weeks ago about a customer service staff in SMRT uniform about his barbaric and racist behaviour. Since then I've not seen him around, definitely hoping he was FIRED.

At the end of the day I can only say that they are too rigid. If they say that they take importance in customer feedback, why are they not giving a damn problem to so many comments from the public about the ban of drinking plain water on the trains?

Snowman left his prints @ 12:05 PM