As many guide books will tell you, visitors to Singapore can get around very well by cab. Taxis are largely convenient and cheap for most out of town visitors. Taxi drivers often speak most of the local languages and dialects of Chinese, making it easy to be understood. Many will often give you a lowdown of (the lack of) politics, what to see and do and sights to go see while you are in Singapore. Once you get a taxi driver started about talking, they’ll rarely stop till you get to your destination.
You may notice taxi drivers in Singapore don’t really stay in their lanes much. My friends who came to Singapore were quite shocked that their taxi driver swerved around other cars seemingly without thought, especially with the reputation of S’poreans being very law abiding. Strangely, I was also puzzled for quite a while about this. Now, after several years, I think I’ve figured it out. SG, being a very densely populated city, has numerous intersections, traffic road repair diversions, flagging taxi passengers, itinerant garbage recyclers (”karang guni”), trishaw ice cream sellers, not to mention jaywalkers — all to keep drivers fluid, changing in and out of lanes and anticipating which lane to be in to make the turns three intersections ahead.
You might also notice that traffic congestion is pretty minimal in SG. The most famous part of the reason for this is called ‘ERP’, or for the uninitiated, “congestion road pricing”. RFID gates across the city register passing cars’ presence and charge tolls accordingly, hopefully keeping your trip relatively jam free. Another part of the equation is ‘COE’, or new vehicle entitlements. Such a Certificate Of Entitlement lets you own and drive a vehicle. SG regulates how many vehicles may ply the roads in proportion to the amount of capacity available. As more new roads are built, more old cars exported and more passengers choose to use public transport, the more entitlements there are to be auctioned off to future-vehicle owners. This keeps traffic in check and puts market demand and supply to work to regulate traffic.
But mass transit certainly has its role in keeping order in SG. The subway rail lines are modern and originated as a single project, unlike other older cities which merged several competitors. As recent as
2003 there were only two lines, but as SG targets to attract more immigrants to stay and contribute, the rail system is growing, currently building and planning and additional two lines to add to the three main trunks and light rail exchanges.
While the MRT system is growing and efficient, clean and hi-tech, for many S’poreans, the bus is the way to go. Early on, transport planners envisioned the MRT as the backbone for bus feeders to take passengers the “final mile” from MRT stations, and planned to shut down long, cross-island routes — especially those that partially mirrored rail stations. However, buses require less walking and often have seats (ok, ok, maybe not during rush hour and seldom in the city center), and so such long haul buses were retained and are still used by many commuters.
Bus stops in SG are often very close by, within 2-3 minutes walking distance, sometimes clearly visible just down the street. Coming from less congested cities, you may wonder why S’poreans will opt to wait 20 minutes for a bus that takes them 100 m closer to their destination or will huddle at bus stops, deathly afraid of the radiant sunlight. Once you’ve tried that extra two-three minute walk, you might guess why — it’s simply too hot to walk around and not get sweaty and stinky. So be patient and wait for the extra couple of minutes — your friends, colleagues and family will thank you.
A favorite activity I think is fun for visitors to try is what I call the “random bus game”. You take any form of mass transit and randomly get off at any place that seems interesting. Switch, transfer in any direction you might like and it can take you someplace off the beaten track (well as far as visitors go, anyways :-). Remember, Singapore is safe, and next to impossible to get lost in. A taxi ride of 20 SGD will get almost anywhere (perhaps just not at rush hour).
One last thing: coming from the US and other large places, I have gotten used to using compass directions to navigate places. In SG, it may not help much. Locals remember directions by left and rights and by place names. Highway signs are thus marked for “Changi” or “Tuas” and not “East” and “West”. I have yet to devise yet-another theory for this; so if you figure it out, please do tell me 
Posted on April 20th, 2008 by knmnyn
Filed under: singapore, transport, what to do | No Comments »
