The article talk about 1) poor public transport reputation, 2) comfort of not using a car 3) financial "im-savviability"
Efficiency is probably the basic need of transportation. People thinking (especially going to work in the morning) are that "I dont care what I am in as long as it get me to work on time" mentality. MRT, Bus, Car, bicycle - anything that can get me to work on time, secondary-ly anything that can delay me from leaving the house (yet get me to work on time), anything that reduce my time travelling is a good, preferred mode of transport.
The train conceptually is a good concept for the above points, especially for those living far from their work place. Get on the train and it usually takes you to your destination in 30 to 45 mins. Your journey is limited to this timing only if you are living one of the train stations and your work place is also at another train station (that is to say almost zero travelling time from station to workplace).
Unfortunately, most people live 1-3km away from the nearest train station and hence they have the following choices to get to the train station before the 30 to 45 mins ride.
- Take a bus from their house to the train station (most common)
- Taxi / Uber / Grab to the train station (most comfortable)
- Walk to the train station (if not too far)
- (Electronic) cycle / scooter / hoverboard / skateboard to the train station (getting increasing common)
- Drive to the train station (probably most costly if parking cost is included)
- Get a family member or friend to drop you at the train station
The first choice of taking a bus is most common because of its relatively low, almost zero cost. However, you run a risk of waiting longer (compared to the other options) especially when the buses are not on schedule or when the buses are too crowded and you are not able to board the bus. The same waiting time applies to the taxis when you try to flag one along the road.
The last 4 options eliminates the waiting time and is something that i want to talk about more in details, linking us back to the article of why young Singaporean still want to own cars.
First, walking. Well, if you don't mind a bit of exercise, dont mind sweating, don't mind using some energy early in the morning and your house is not too far from the train station, it is good choice for you. However, most of us are wearing our formal attires (shirts, pants, skirts, blouse) and its probably not a good idea to get any of these attire wet first thing in the morning before we start work. A car will be good, even if I were to drive it and park at the mrt station)
Really? If you have a car, will you just drive to the MRT station and squeeze in the train to work? What about the distance from the station to the office? Will you want to get yourself wet from sweat at the time you step into office? So...(its obvious which you will choose)
I know at this point, some may argue about the cost of driving (petrol, erp, parking) on top of cost of owning the car. This is especially so when the you work right in town and start work at the end of the peak hour (9am). Peak hour slow traffic, ERP at the highest rates...not to mention the sky high parking charges you pay per day or per month.
Of course, if money is not an issue to you, the only thing that you need to endure is the peak hour slow moving traffic. In fact, you would suddenly wish that ERP charges are higher than the already high charge so that people will avoid the ERP gantry and hence not be driving beside you. To these people whose money is 'unlimited', life is always great in Singapore. Tell you what, you should get a chauffeur to drive your Rolls Royce and eliminates the stress of driving too.
For the average man on the street, its moving back to re-exploring the choices.
Alas, we are left with 1 option: E-cycle / scooter / xxx-boards to the station. Its seems to be a great idea because being electronic, these scooters or bicycles doesn't require must effort to keep it moving and its moves relatively quickly compared to walking. You reach the station in less than half the time compared to if you walk, probably uses much less energy and there is not waiting time involved. The scooters (not the bicycles) can also be taken along with you to continue the journey when you alight from the train. Can see why this is getting increasing popular with the layman.
However, as its is not a car, it is still subjected to the elements of the weather and you could also be stuck behind a slow moving pedestrian trying to occupy the whole pedestrian path. And the e-vehicle are good for the last kilometre (mile) commuting, not the whole journey. And you face the same problems of all other train commuters too. Train breakdown, not able to board the train, squeezing like sardines, just to name a few.
Hence, from the above discussion, the group of people who has the least inconvenience is not someone with an e-scooter, but someone with a car (and chauffeur) and with money not an issue for him / her. It's an aspiration of the best and young people are working towards it.
