No Such Thing as a Happy Peak Hour Bus Ride

I took the bus during peak hour today. It was around seven pm.

The bus was already quite packed when I first got on. I was literally at the front door holding on for my dear life.

The bus captain however decided that more passengers could still get on at the next bus stop. I found myself squashed like a sardine with the rest of the passengers and had to hold on the frame of an advertisement as I could not get my hand on any hand rail or stuff.

The whole journey was unpleasant to say the least. The bus was totally packed and the bus captain still made sure that all passengers got on board at every stop.

I could not help but laugh when I got off the bus and saw the advert at the exit door reminding passengers to tap off. The "passengers"/ models in the advertisement all looked so happy.

I looked around the entire bus and saw only grumpy faces all around me.

How ironical!

Public Transport Cheap

A few weeks back, I commented that it took me $0.91 per trip to use the bus to get to one of my destinations. This makes a two-way trip a mere $1.82.

With the rising costs of COE prices which I have highlighted previously, a lot of Singaporeans will have to consider taking public transport as an option.

Comparing the costs of public transport and car ownership

Public transport in Singapore is definitely affordable I must say. Compared to a car, if one was to spend $5 on public transport each day, the total cost per month only adds up to $150. That is assuming that the person does not take any taxi. But we can add in some discretionary taxi expenses at say $150 per month and the grand total is ONLY $300.

Compared to a car's monthly charges of $1000 and up, $300 is definitely very affordable. One can save the difference and invest in stocks or REITs to beef up their retirement funds. This is indeed a worthwhile option that people should consider.

Cheap but....

Today I took my regular two way trip which cost me $1.82. While public transport is cheap, it is not entirely "convenient" per se.

On my first trip, I had to wait 10 minutes for the bus. Due to this long waiting time, I was late for my appointment by 5 minutes as I still had to walk a certain distance to get to where I wanted to go.

On my return trip, I faced some dilemma. The bus was crowded and there was only standing space left. When I had about 5 stops left to my stop, I was sort of "forced" to move to the back as that was the only way new passengers could get in.

I did not want to block the way yet at the same time, had to lament the fact that after 5 stops, I would have to SQUEEZE my way out of the bus. So yes, the bus is cheap but it does put you in a tight spot (literally) at times.