A better MRT System ?

A visit to STOMP especially on the "Ugly Commuters" section where there are tons of pictures and comments about commuters NOT giving up seats for the old/disabled, pregnant and even placing their belongings on the seat next to them. Well, the list goes on and similarly, their lives goes on as well...................

So what the hell can we do about it ? Education ? Nah, Singapore is one of the few country in the world to have the highest literacy rate (95%), but yet, look at us, how much control (via fine) and people performing ungracious acts on a daily basis without the slightest guilt ! Guess, they must be a fan of Michael Jackson's song "Smooth Criminal" (minus the moonwalk and iconic white socks) !

For example, back in July'08, I was boarding a train towards City Hall standing near to the exit door and there was a girl (about the age of a primary 5 school kid) seated on a priority seat (wondering how many commuters understood that term) with an old granny standing right in front of her pleading for the seat through her eyes and expression.

Due to ongoing embarrassment from public stare, reluctantly, the mother instructed the kid to offer the seat to the old granny . Guess what, the kid just replied "Why should I do that ?" and resumed reading her book without paying any attention to the old granny. At that point, I was hoping for a 9mm projectile would drive through her temple and issue a one-way ticket to hell ! What kind of barbaric animal would do that ???

On the contrary, there was an incident that amused me as well. There was once when I boarded a train at Aljunied station and suprisingly, there was an empty seat right before me, wow, what a lucky trip must be for me ! Upon seated, there was an auntie in her mid 40s seated directly opposite placing her little handbag next to an empty seat shamelessly. At that point of time, the train was getting packed as it approached Bugis, guess what, there were quite a handful of commuters actually dashed to the seat and only to be disappointed by a lifeless little handbag. And best of all, they simply just back off without even asking for the seat. I could imagined their thoughts to be "suck thumb lor". Nevertheless, the curse of the orange seat was finally lifted by an auntie of similar caliber (I assumed) at Outram MRT. For the past 7 stops, none of the commuters actually challenge for the seat and I guess this maybe heavily influenced by the culture.

Having wrote that much, so what BengGaBoy going to suggest that solve everything ? Well, from my perspective, there will not be any single policy that solve everything and agree by everyone. Similarly, we are not going to solve world hunger right ? Read on if you are still interested........................

Pay As You Seat (PAYS)

How it works ?

1. Every single seat on the MRT will be converted to a "cinema like" kind of seat whereby it will automatically flip upwards
2. If a passenger would like to have a seat, they would need to tap their EZlink card on the seat to "unlock" the seat
3. For commuters with special needs (e.g. disabled, old & etc), it will be qualified by a centralized office whereby a special card will be issued. Thus, they will NOT need to pay additional charges
   
4. For pregnant, ladies, upon confirmation with relevant medical documentation, similarly, they could apply for a special "no charge card"with a validity period of 1 year
5. Each train section will be allocated a fix number of "no charge access only" seats for the needy
   

Benefits

• No more dashing for seats by commuters and hopefully that would change the disgusting habit of dashing into the train as well
  
• secured allocation of seats for the needy
• no more 2nd guess for the commuters on who really need a seat (but continue to guess in Deal or no deal)
  
• supply and demand matching by implementing "ERP" like prices
  
• no more obnoxious commuters placing their belonging next to an empty seat
• Win-win situation between commuter and operator. If there isn't much commuters seated means more people can cramp into the train. Thus, this will increase operational efficiency by having a larger economy of scale. With that, cost savings could be pass back to commuters
  

I sincerely hope that such system would implement in Singapore someday and make the trip more pleasant ! With that, Singapore will steal the worldwide headlines of being the 1st country to implement an innovative "ERP" like seating system !