‘We Don’t Say “Back Home” Anymore’: On the Long-Term Expat Life in Singapore

[ginfreely]

"cheap car" is no magic bullet for transport in busy urban corridors. even in suburban gridlock like in los angeles and sf bay area, commuters will gladly keep their cars in the garage and hop on public transport, if it is convenient, affordable, and readily available at every other major junction. the problem with public transport, especially mass rapid transit systems, in the u.s. is the high cost, lack of funding, divided politics, lack of political will, union labor, environmental concerns, long duration in design and implementation, extremely expensive ticket pricing.

for example, more than 400k passengers ride bart daily in and out of sf and oakland because there are few choices, even though majority of riders have cars at home. parking is impossible in sf and oakland without monthly reservations in private garages, congestion requires hours to navigate in and out cities, and both cities are bus-, pedestrian- and bike-friendly, leaving little room on roads for cars.

if the entire bay area has a transit system such as sg's mrt, where lines cover almost all corners of the island, stations are numerous, multiple transfer points provide route redundancy, fares are relatively low, wait intervals are short, trains are clean, stations are safe, spacious and shiny, the ridership total in the bay area will double in no time. and more cars will be left in home garages for 5 days a week.

I was talking about cheap cars in backward countries that come with cheap parking. Of course if the parking is expensive, then it is a different situation.

I am not familiar with SF except I know the parking is very expensive as a tourist there last time. But I used to work with people from Boston and Denver in my jobs last time and seriously have never heard of them complaining of the lack of public transport. I mean have heard them complain Boston housing expensive, food expensive, etc but never heard them complaining their lack of public transport. In fact, their office I visited has huge land with ample parking.

The way they talking about their houses are all suburban houses that are huge and fitted with sauna etc. And they talking about sailing as a hobby. All are driving, no one talked about need to MRT then. Maybe SF and NYC are exceptions in USA and their income is much higher than the rest of the country, so that is why driving is also very expensive when including the parking.

 

[tanwahtiu]

I will also appreciate PAP if NOT for the NSF steal my 2 years of my prime life. 2 years is a lot of time to waste on evil Leegime policy stagnant Singaporean males futures.

No CPF to pay for foreigners FTs, money in own pocket is better in Ho Jinx purse, LHL sex partner.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-272B-320

overheard :

~ "Sadly it's usually the foreigners who appreciate Singapore more."

~ "i got to agree somewhat. Now that i'm working overseas, i appreciate sg even more.
btw. my bus fare just got raised from 6 to 8 hkd - freaking 33% !@#$ increase. nobody make much noise here. but when fares increased by less than 5% in sg, people think its the end of the world.
"
~ " It's not only the foreigners who appreciate Singapore, but also those Singaporeans who have lived, worked & ran businesses abroad, and have lived through enough abject conditions to appreciate Singapore.

Those who don't are either shallow or chronically unappreciative (regardless of how much they already have) or both."