New Bus Pole Design

My feedback to Land Transport Authority.

The connected car

This is an intelligent car, that can drive by itself or sense what is happening around the place. It will soon become a reality. The technology is there. Read this article.

Seats removed from MRT trains

I went up the MRT train and observe that most of the seats were removed in one carriage. This allows more people to be packed into the carriage, as they have to stand.

I am somewhat sad to see this approach towards increasing the capacity of the train. The other approach is to run more trains, at shorter frequency. The train operator operated to increase its profit, at the expense of comfort of the commuters. The authority allowed them to adopt this approach. 

Who is looking after the interest of commuters?

Priority seating for disabled and seniors

Printed in MyPaper, 3 June 2009 

I took the public bus in Vancouver, Canada. In several places in the bus, stickers were clearly seen, "Prioirty seating for disabled and seniors".

When a senior board the bus, the driver announces, "senior boarding". The seated passenger immediately stand to offer the seat to the senior. This is expected behaviour and is observed without any hassle. 

For Singapore to follow this courtesy campaign, we need the bus drivers to play this role. For MRT trains, perhaps a station officer can accompany the senior or disabled up the train and make an annuoncement. I hope that SMRT will create some employment for the station officers.

A pure electric vehicle

Will the pure electric vehicle have a place in the private car market? Warren Buffett think so. See the E6.

Traffic in Vancuover

The traffic in Vancouver move slowly, maybe at 30 km per hour or slower. It is not due to congestion. It is the pace of life.

The drivers are patient and will stop for people to cross the road. They are not in a hurry. 

I asked a local person if there is a low speed limit on the road. He replied yes, but was not really sure.