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Writer's pictureVivian Foley

The Ultimate Guide to Planes, Trains, Buses, and Public Transportation: Singapore Style

Haha, I asked ChatGPT for a witty title for my blog and this is part of what I got in return. We also recently asked our family to give us some content ideas for our blogs - thanks to Whitney for this idea for this week's post!


In my lifetime I have only lived for a few years without a car: on my young mission to Ecuador, for a couple of years at BYU, and now. Most of my life I have lived in places that required an automobile for survival. Growing up on a farm miles out of town we had many different types of vehicles for both farm work and family life, including cars, ATVs, pickups, vans, tractors, grain trucks, and combines. In the years of family life with Sean and our children we faced some times where we felt we needed three vehicles to get everyone where they needed to be. That is very different from life in Singapore and the life we live now without an automobile and completely dependent on public transportation.


When it comes to public transportation Singapore was recently ranked number 1 in the world overall including things like efficiency, availability, and affordability. Singapore is the first city of this size where I have ever lived, and I am a huge fan of its public transportation system. Here's a typical look at our missionary life on public transportation:


Morning and Evening Commute: We walk from our high rise apartment out the back gate of our complex. If our timing is perfect we can jump on a bus and take it one stop to the MRT (mass rapid transit) train station. The timing isn't usually quite that perfect, and we need the exercise, so we generally end up making the 6 minute walk. Sean likes to reminisce "remember that one day when we walked out of the gate and the bus was right there and then arrived at the MRT station to find the train right there?" It has only happened a couple of times but no worries, in the morning the trains arrive about every 2 minutes. If we miss one the next one is coming right up! We then ride on the North-South line from Canberra station to Newton which takes about 35 minutes and is nine stops. We then have another short 6 minute walk to the church complex where our office is located. We do the same thing in reverse to get home.


Courteousness: Something that I really appreciate about public transportation here is that there is a huge emphasis on being courteous. Most days I am offered a seat by others...one benefit of my gray hair showing my age. I have been really grateful for this over the past few months as my heel has been slowly healing. There are some strict fines advertised for eating or drinking on trains or in train stations and you just don't see food or trash there often. It is also frowned on to use your phone without head phones, clip your nails, bring a smelly durian, or disturb other passengers in any way. It's not perfect, but people really do well. (Except for the occasional young child, but people are fairly understanding there.)


Saturday Shopping Trips: Our Saturday ritual of purchasing groceries could go a few different ways. We can take a bus or train to the nearest supermall, but we typically walk the 15 minute trek to the mall, pulling our grocery carts behind us. After we purchase our food items we can grab several different buses right in front of the mall that stop at the back gate of our apartment complex. The bus schedules are easy to read and there are electronic signs at many bus stops with real time updates on when the next bus will arrive. Google Maps also works interactively with the buses and can give you a location of your chosen bus so you know how long you will wait. I was very proud of myself this week for figuring out my return trek from the grocery store on my own!


Affordability: This is another real advantage with Singapore public transportation. They have a reduced rate for Singapore citizens, but even at the non-citizen rate we pay it is very affordable to ride. We go most places on the island for between $1-2 Singapore dollars ($.75-1.50 USD). If we are using both a train and a bus the fare carries over from one to the other. After a Friday night outing to East Coast Park we transferred from one train to another for a 90-minute trek home and the fare was equivalent to $1.70 USD. We generally spend about $150 USD a month for our transportation which is considerably less than the cost of owning 1-2 cars to get us around in Missouri. We love not paying gas, insurance, and maintenance, let alone a car payment!


Time on the train: For the first few months of our mission I felt frustrated by the 90 minutes of daily commuting. With humility and patience I have learned to make good use of that time with studying the scriptures, replying to emails, writing in my journal, and (in one of my favorite past times) observing human behavior. The morning commute trains are generally very quiet with most people deeply immersed in their phones. The nighttime trains can be more noisy with people chattering after coming from some type of social event. Mid-day and weekend trains often have more children and older people with their own type of noise. I love to observe the younger children who will instinctively repeat the loudspeaker voice that announces each stop. It is such a different world from what my children experienced sitting in a car, reading when they were young and listening to 96.5 The Buzz as they got older.


Friday night I observed a boy who was probably around 4 years old on the train with his dad and older brother. When they got on the train the dad immediately put his head phones in and started listening to something, his older brother pulled out a book to read, and the little boy started using his imagination. He had his transit card in his hands and started to pretend like it was a cell phone. He would poke his fingers around like he was doing something and then mimic the expressions that adults would use while looking at their phones. He pretended that he was calling someone and he had a conversation with them complete with pauses and facial expressions that he would have observed in adults around him. It was kind of funny, but also kind of sad. He was imitating his experience which obviously included a lot of people not interacting with him and interacting with their phones instead. Such is definitely the way of life on trains!


Some Trivia:

  • Singapore works to keep traffic congestion down by charging large fees and taxes for automobile ownership. An average permit to own a car costs between $54,000-$75,000 USD, then there is the additional vehicle tax of 100-300% of the open-market value of the vehicle. At those prices, it's always amazing how many cars we still see parked in the car park of our apartment complex.

  • The MRT system in Singapore is fully automated and works on a driverless model. It is remarkable how well that works and we have only seen minor (a few minutes) delays in our nine months here so far.

  • The bus system includes double decker buses and we really enjoy riding on their upper decks on occasion to get a different sense of the city.

  • The Singapore version of Uber is called Grab. In Singapore it a little cheaper than in the US but much more expensive than using public transportation (and significantly more expensive than in Malaysia!) We have only used it a handful of times but it can really help cut down on time and walking when we are in pinch.


There is your ultimate guide to transportation in Singapore. If you really want to know more you might start with this Wikipedia information. Our family has spent a lot of time together in cars and we have always loved a good road trip. I have wonderful memories of listening to music and The CBS Radio Mystery theater on the radio in the car with my parents. With our children I have many memories of conversations, games, and listening to Harry Potter on CDs or watching movies like Cool Runnings on a laptop while driving cross country. I can't help but feel that some of that wonderful family connection time is lost on public transportation, but it is creating new memories for me that likely won't be lost. Above all I am learning that I can make the most of whatever time I have by choosing what I will do with that time!





Photos:

  1. In the office where the magic happens posing with the Therapy Elephant

  2. Our beloved Singapore Zone, August-October 2024 edition. Six of these great missionaries complete their mission this transfer.

  3. We had a charming young man stop by to visit. He is Chinese but was educated in the United States and working in Irvine California. He is not a member of our church but really loves the missionaries and members and just stopped by to say hello after seeing our church on a trip to Singapore.

  4. One of our great YSA along with dad and former Bishop in Utah, where he is starting BYU this term!

  5. Our wonderful Singapore Stake Presidency.'

6-20: The Zoo has four sections, and these are from this week's visit to Bird Paradise. It was a wonderful P-Day adventure! It is designed very well to make it manageable with Singapore's ever-present heat.





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1 Comment


krzybee
Sep 03

I loved the vividly colored birds and after learning about the transportation system I wish we had something like that!!! You'll are doing a great job! Miss and Love you! 💛

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