Friday, May 30, 2008
The Straits Times published this absolutely GOLDEN nugget of a rant.
Train commuters who cheatAll I have to say is.... What an idiot, this is not trying to cheat MRT fares, it's trying to get to where you want to go! Trains are so crowded nowadays, of course we have to throw a few stunts here and there.
MUCH has been said about fare-cheating passengers in buses. There is another type of fare cheaters - those who take the MRT.These are the ones who board the train at the station before the last one on the route. They do not alight at the last station, but remain in the trains and continue their journey when the train starts again.
I have observed that this occurs in two stations - Tampines and Raffles Place. Those who board the train at Tampines remain in their seats at Pasir Ris and continue their journey towards Boon Lay. Similarly, those who board at Raffles Place do not alight at Marina Bay, but continue their journey in the same train towards Jurong East.
As this happens during peak hours, those who are waiting for the trains at Pasir Ris to proceed towards Boon Lay and those at Raffles Place waiting to proceed towards Jurong East are put to hardship. The trains are almost fully occupied and they have to wait for the next train to get a seat - provided that the train too is also not filled up by these free-riders. Secondly, these people are not only enjoying a free ride at the expense of those who are paying the full fare, but they are also preventing the fare-paying passengers from having a comfortable journey. Perhaps, SMRT could make announcements requesting passengers not to indulge in such acts.
A. Raviprakash
You cannot cheat fares like this, the gantry doesn't know which direction you went. Does he think that getting on the train at Raffles Place and going towards Marina Bay, before continuing north means the commuter pays for only 1 station worth of travel?? How does the system know that he went to Marina Bay? Why do we scan our Ez-Link cards at the exit gantry?
Seriously, I don't know if he is too lazy or too dumb.
Don't blame others for your laziness. Other people are spending the extra 15 mins to travel to an extra station before continuing the journey.
Has he ever really thought about how he would justify the fare cheating in such scenarios... I really wonder if he really believe himself. Did he really think all this was done to cheat the fare, or just a lame excuse to rant about people taking extra time and trouble to get a seat.
I am really speechless... and was severely tempted to write in to ST to respond to it but it's a waste of time.
After careful thinking, I realised that Mr Ravi was right after all. These people are indeed fare cheats.
As I am one of them, I now humbly declare that I am ashamed. I apologise for cheating the MRT fare for the travel I made between the 2nd last station and the last station on the line.
For those who are confused, this is the illustration.
For example, you want to go to Jurong East from Tampines. It is 22 stops from Tampines to Jurong East.
However, I choose to go to Pasir Ris, back to Tampines before continuing on to Jurong East. I am still paying for only *gasp* 22 stops worth of travel!!
I traveled free from Tampines to Pasir Ris and back!
OMG, I never realised that I have been cheating on my MRT fares and I feel totally ashamed.
