Pity the Sardines

It happens every single day - to thousands of people - they are held hostage without realising it and there is no salvation in sight.

They take your money upfront with the promise "We'll get you there" but that's where the guarantee ends and it's up to you to fend for yourself. You are no treated as a Singaporean - you are just a mere Statistic to be manipulated into glowing reports of atypical corporate efficiency - you are just a Sardine to be crammed into a tin-can - a shipping container on wheels - to be disgorged without ceremony at your destination - assuming you can squeeze past the doors in time. Welcome to Singapore's MRT.

- an ultra-efficient people-moving - cold and calculated to getting the job done.

Commuters were numbers, not really people, so the mantra was cram as many in as you can into each tin can and to hell with the collateral damage of bruised toes, the deafening noise and the offended olfactory senses under siege from the toxic bombardment emitting from thousands of smelly armpits raised in unison.
When the MRT was first proposed, the promises came fast and furious.

Clean, comfortable, fast. Perhaps had we been more astute, we would have read the underlining motives simply for what they really were

The system was and remains purely ingenious.

"We'll make your journey more pleasant" they promised. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent installing little TV screens in the tin cans on wheels. "Ahhh entertainment" thought the customers", "Ahhh revenue from advertising thought the train masters". And when advertisers failed to bite ... we are left with screens left blank much like the faces of many commuters.

When commuters grumble that the trains are too crowded, the geniuses behind the system did the easiest thing possible - take out the seats, squeeze in more sardines. Hey you wanted more space right? What do you want us to do - add more trains - that will cut our profits. Stupid sardines!

When commuters grumbled that delays at the station were too long, the geniuses behind the system responded. "We hear your pain. We'll add one more train." Woopie. When the Geniuses realised "Hey there's aren't enough sardines travelling during their lunch time - we'll losing money - look that train can squeeze in at least 10 more sardines," So they went on the offensive. "Travel more during your lunch hour - waiting time two minutes - we promise".

Okay if you can do it during lunch time - bringing down waiting times to just two minutes at lunch, why can't the same promise be made during the peak hours?

That as they say, remains a mystery surrounded in an enigma.