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SMRT Says Rail Reliability in 2017 Increased: 10 Other Topics S’poreans Are Talking About Today (29 Mar)

Boon Hun

2018-03-29 , 11:22 am

We’ve all experienced train faults frequently throughout 2017, but SMRT says rail reliability has increased from 2016.

And the reason they’ve give is…quite interesting.

Other than SMRT, we have life-changing stories, new private-hire car service in Singapore and more in store for you!

Here are the 10 stories to read before the long weekends!

SMRT CEO: Rail Reliability of Trains Increased in 2017

Mention the word SMRT and you’ll have Singaporeans talking about it.

And yesterday, they’ve given us more to talk about. Basically about how SMRT arrived at the conclusion that rail reliability has increased in 2017.

And Singaporeans be like…

Here’s what they said, “SMRT trains travelled further with fewer delays in 2017 compared to the year before.”

The Mean Kilometre Before Failure (MBKF) for the NSL doubled from 156,000km in December 2016 to 336,000km in December 2017.

The MBKF for CCL increased from 228,000km to 523,000km and the EWL, 145,000km to 278,000km.

And you go…waaaaaaaaaaaait a minute, that’s not what happened. EWL seemed to have delays almost every day.

Well, they explained that as well.

Most of the delays were caused by the new signalling system, which belongs to the category of short-term projects. In other words, it doesn’t count.

The MBKF is a measuring stick for track reliability from year to year (read: systems which will be in place for a long time). So the integration of the new signalling system, which will not be happening forever, isn’t counted.

SMRT: $0.60 Of Every $1 Earned Spent on Rail Maintenance

Since we’re on the topic of SMRT, here’s another thing that has Singaporeans talking.

SMRT announced that for every $1 they earn from fares, $0.60 goes into maintenance. Now, you can take this information in three different ways.

Some netizens felt that this is a ploy to increase the fares because #ProfitFTW.

Some were just going orbi quack, see lah

But for us? We just hope that this increase in maintenance means lesser train breakdowns.

I mean, with the private-hire car saga, public transport is our last resort liao. Agree?

SMRT: We Will Achieve Three Times More Reliable By 2020

SMRT announced that they will aim boldly, aim high to serve people of the Republic of Singapore.

By 2020, they will be 3 times more reliable.

This means that they will work towards having no more than 1 delay per month and to reduce any delays to 5 minutes or less.

If you’ve read about how the MBKF (read: SMRT train reliability) is calculated, you’re thinking: Eh, will you play cheat and discount signalling-related faults again?

Don’t worry, SMRT chairman Seah Moon Ming said the signalling-related delays will be calculated in the MBKF by end-June.

Guess we can only wait and see. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

78-Year-Old Woman Fought Off Robber At Lavender

People always say that Singapore is safe. Mostly true, but not always.

On 28 Mar, the police announced that they have arrested a 28-year-old man for allegedly trying to rob a convenience store at Lavender.

The man had tried to rob a 78-year-old woman manning a convenience store along Tyrwhitt Road in Jalan Besar with a penknife.

The woman struggled with the man and he fled without getting any money. Thankfully, the woman was not injured.

The police caught him 5 hours after the report was made along Lavender Street, They found a penknife on him.

Remember, like what the SPF always like to say.

So stay safe and vigilant, guys.

Carpooling App, Ryde, To Launch Private-Hire Car Service in S’pore

For those of you who are afraid of Grab monopolising the market and raising prices.

An unlikely hero has appeared on the scene.

Ryde, a carpooling app, announced that they’ll be offering their own private-hire car services, RydeX, on 28 Mar.

They’ve started accepting sign-ups of drivers via their app and the commission they get from each ride will be pegged at 10%.

This will result in higher earnings for the driver and lower fares for the riders.

Of course, whether they’ll succeed as a threat that stops Grab from increasing prices (if Grab has the intention to, that is) is another matter entirely.

After all, if they are unable to supply as big a fleet as Grab, nobody is going to use RydeX anyway. (Imagine you’re in Tuas and the nearest RydeX car is at Bukit Batok.)

H&M Facing Crisis, Has $5.6Bn Worth Of Unsold Clothes

With the internet and online shopping, retail businesses are facing troublesome times ahead. No matter the size of the company.

One such company is H&M.

The mega-fashion retailer has been reporting problems since last year. Unexpected quarterly drops in sales, fall in foot traffic and a huge growth in unsold stock.

H&M produced so many clothes every year that a power plant in Vasteras relies partly on burning H&M’s defective goods for energy.

H&M’s founder’s grandson, Persson, said, “The start of the year has been tough.”

17-Year-Old Cyclist Taken To Hospital After Collision With Car

On 28 Mar, a teenage cyclist was taken to the hospital after a collision with a car near Changi Naval Base.

It’s believed that the car was stationary, and the teenager rode into the back of the car.

The teenager was sitting on the cycling path with blood on his hands, legs and face when a passer-by stopped to help.

He was taken to Changi General Hospital.

This comes in a day after another cyclist was taken to the hospital in an accident with a car.

Remember, if you ride a bicycle in Singapore, practise safe riding.

Are We Doing The Right Things By Our Teachers?

Teachers are important figures in our lives. If you have a good teacher, it’s likely you can do anything.

Turning over a new leaf, becoming inspired to fight against all odds; these are stories you typically hear in inspirational speeches and mostly involve a central figure: a teacher.

So when the government announced that teachers are not entitled to free parking, netizens rose up.

What about teachers spending their own time and money on their students? What about teachers who stayed in school 12 hours daily to complete the workload?

Bring back the free parking, it’s the least you can do.

But Bharati Jagdish from Channel News Asia has another opinion.

Free parking or not, it doesn’t matter. What matters is how teachers’ workloads can be lightened, and how they can be rewarded in a better way.

What do you think?

40 Year Old Man Allegedly Molested Woman on MRT Arrested

Ladies, if you’re molested on a train or bus by a stranger, ask for help.

There are tons of females who choose to tahan in silence because they’re afraid of backlash, either from the public in terms of victim-blaming.

Or being accused of being oversensitive.

But this lady decided to voice it out instead, and the man got arrested.

It was reported on 28 Mar that a 40-year-old man was arrested for allegedly molesting a woman on the MRT.

The suspect alighted at Woodlands MRT station, and the victim followed him.

She followed him to Woodlands Bus Interchange where she got assistance from a bus captain and detained him.

The police are currently investigating the incident.

Ladies, that’s how you handle a molester.

These Images of Study Spaces & Their Inspiring Stories Will Change The Way You Think

You know, in life, most of us always feel like we’re shortchanged.

I’m pretty sure this has happened to you at least once. Oh, they have rich parents. You’ve got to work part-time. Your friends have iPhone X and you’re stuck with Oppo.

Well, these images and their inspiring stories might just get you out of your funk and let you appreciate what life has given you.

Bukit Batok West Avenue 5, 4-room HDB flat, Living Room dining table

“Ever since my mother passed away, my father has not been able to work. He is always sad and has gotten into accidents. So we told him to stop,” reveals the 47-year- old housewife.

Her husband works as a driver of private buses, sending workers to their places of occupation. The couple has 3 children, aged 17, 16 and 8. The youngest goes to a local madrasah, while his two sisters are both in ITE West. The older sister is in a culinary (baking) course, while the younger is pursuing a course in business.

The sisters’ goal is to join forces and improve their mother’s home catering micro-business through their passions and expertise. The boy typically comes home from school at 7 p.m. His sisters will help him with his homework at the table while their mother works on completing her orders also at the table.

She used to work as a cashier before deciding to quit to care for her father. The laptop featured is on loan from Daughters of Tomorrow (DOT). It is for her younger daughter’s business assignments and her son’s e-learning homework.

Republic Polytechnic, Outdoor study area table

This is where a pair of sisters, then in secondary school, would meet their tutor for their bi-weekly tuition sessions in English and Mathematics, and where they would go to study before returning to their Johor home after their mother ended her shift at KFC.

The family, comprising of 3 sisters, their parents and grandparents, moved to the grandparents’ Johor home when their father, already in his 50s, lost his job as a technical engineer during a retrenchment exercise. He is currently working as a taxi driver.

They shared that the study tables in Woodlands Library were often crowded. Cafés provided no alternative as they could not afford to buy anything from there. Their tutor charged them cheaply and accepted late or partial payments at no penalty.

The older of the pair is completing her polytechnic course in Visual Communications and hopes to further her education at Lasalle, College of the Arts. The younger hopes to continue on to Higher Nitec once she completes her Nitec course, also in Visual Communications.

Tampines Street 22, 2-room rental flat, Living room desk

For the single mother and her two daughters aged 9 and 8, living in a rental flat following a painful divorce was a difficult experience at first. The block has both security and sanitation issues. However, she shares that the social services available are excellent, providing child-minding services as well as safe spaces for the families to retreat to in times of need.

The girls share the table with her. Much of the furniture pictured are either donations or on loan from self-help organisations. At the time the photograph was taken, the family was trying to figure out how to arrange a bed that has been donated to them in the tiny bedroom.

The mother holds a full-time job with DOT and provides beauty services at home to supplement her income. The girls are motivated students ― independent, empathetic and brave ― qualities their mother takes care to nurture in them. They adhere to their own study schedules. The older girl loves animals and aspires to be a veterinarian, while the younger, a free spirit, wishes to be a teacher, taxi- and bus- driver, and an artist all at once.

“They never complain,” their grandmother proudly shares “not even when all we have to give them for food is spinach cooked in water”.

You can check out the full project here by Verkur.

So remember, guys: this is the clear line between excuses and reasons.

**All images from Verkur Facebook Page

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com