“Commuters have a choice. They can have more trains or less breakdowns.”

[Confuseous]

Juz wondering whether the recent breakdowns be due to the strain of running more trains during peak hours to appease commuters’ anger abt crowded trains? If so, Ms Saw should come out and say, “Commuters have a choice. They can have more trains or less breakdowns. They can’t have both.”

Could the breakdowns be due to skimping on maintenance to maintain profits in the face of higher oil prices? I mean if SMRT was skimmimg on security, why assume it was not skimping on routine maintence of the system?

- http://atans1.wordpress.com/2011/12...they-can-have-more-trains-or-less-breakdowns/

 

[laksaboy]

How about 'less people on the island' and a concerted effort to reduce the population to no more than 4 or 4.5 million? It's quite easy to get rid of all the excessive unskilled foreigners in one fell swoop - just stop issuing or renewing employment passes for them.

Assuming SMRT doesn't skimp on maintenance and construction costs, alleviating the overall load of train carriages can do wonders for the longevity and efficiency of the public transport system.

I think the PAP's objective to bump the island's population to 6 million was fatally flawed to begin with. Blinded by the prospect of a self-sustaining domestic economy, it never considered the serious compromises to the quality of life, and the social strains from a massive influx of foreigners.

Now, we are witnessing the beginning of cracks in the self-proclaimed 'world class public transport system'.

There's only so many people you can squeeze onto a small piece of land. If you want more people, you will need more lebensraum. Theoretically, Batam and parts of Johor could be annexed, but that's unlikely to happen. So, be content with 4 million population. Is contentment such a hard thing to attain?