TR EMERITUS

LTA has announced that it will be introducing new social initiatives to make commuters’ journeys more palatable and encourage commuters to smile. Some of the new initiatives which LTA will be trying out in the next few months include: Buskers performing at train platforms Elaborately-decorated themed carriages Staff clutching stuffed toy or flowers and giving out tissues to welcome commuters Efforts are already under way to upgrade ageing train infrastructure and improve service quality, but these projects will take years to bear fruit. In the meantime, LTA hopes that its social initiatives will help make commuters’ train journeys "a little less harried". LTA Director of Corporate Transformation and Futures, Agnes Kwek, said that LTA is seeking to improve the train experience in every possible way. "Public transport is very much a shared social space and our interactions with other commuters affect our train experience,” she said. “We’re launching a series of trials to foster a positive commuter culture - be it behaviour, interaction or atmosphere.” Kicking off the initiatives is a football-themed cabin on the North-South Line. It comes decked with 3-D turf grass and soccer ball toys, as well as stickers of a football pitch and prints of cleats directing commuters to the middle of the cabin: The LTA is also planning to have buskers performing at train platforms, in a tie-up with the National Arts Council (NAC). This will not only add vibrancy to the stations and make the public transport experience more interesting, but will also provide an additional platform for performers to showcase their talents, the LTA said. Five MRT stations have been chosen for the trial to allow buskers to perform at the train platforms, starting from July: Jurong East City Hall Raffles Place Eunos Bukit Batok Buskers will perform during the morning and evening peak hours. They can also collect donations. LTA said it will monitor commuters' response while ensuring that "commuter flow will not be impeded" during the trial. It added that it will later consider allowing buskers to perform inside the trains. If the trial is successful, LTA will consider implementing the initiatives at other stations too. Before the announcement of the trial, a test run was actually conducted last month at Jurong East, City Hall and Raffles Place MRT stations. LTA said commuters’ response was positive. Buskers who performed at last month's test run were also positive. Ms Chen Qing Ying, who played the guzheng at Raffles Place and City Hall MRT stations told the media, “Sometimes, when people are waiting for the train, they are probably feeling anxious ... If there is music, they can listen while they wait and time can pass a little faster.” Another busker who hailed from the Philippines but now stays in Woodlands, Ms Leticia Habon Caya [Link][Link], said her 20-minute performance at Jurong East MRT Station had “felt exclusive because it was within the platform”. (Photo: Ms Leticia Habon Caya's Facebook page) Meanwhile, some netizens were not too impressed with LTA's latest "social initiatives" [Link]: Arsene_Wenger: Fare got increase?? ngensys2000: You want to make it less stressful for commuters? Reduce influx of FTs. rongguang: reduce FT and reduce transport fees will help reduce stress snap99: Stop wasting money and every year ask for fare increase la blu_black: which joker scholar came up with this genius idea? stillgottheblues: A bunch of bloody jokers. Please go back to the basics. złoty: solve the root cause of the unhappiness Another netizen commented: baijiazi: already no space to squeeze in liao... still put ppl there to take up space?? Do you think the following commuters will be able to enjoy the performances from the buskers at the train platforms: What do you think?  Read More →

HDB flats Years ago I assisted my mother in law (MIL) in renting out a room of her 3 room flat to have a source of income for her. The agent brought a serious tenant, two Filipino ladies, who said they like the location which is near their work place (a kindergarten) but they need to move in early because their contract at the kindergarten starts the next week and they want the room to be aircon. Although we wanted to rent out on a “as it is” condition as my MIL do not want the hacking and noise of installing aircon, we pitied the Filipino ladies who need the place urgently, so we went ahead and had the aircon installed urgently at our cost TRUSTING that we can recover the cost of aircon installation over the term of the 2 year tenancy contract. Three months into the tenancy, these ladies tell my MIL they are moving because they found a cheaper room, one that they claimed is cheaper by $200. They asked my MIL to reduce the rent by $200 or they move! I stepped in and said NO, a contract is a contract and they have to respect a contract after all my MIL has been so kind to install an aircon and let them move in early. Despite that reasoning, they still moved, giving us one month notice. That is not the end, 6 months after they left, they called my MIL to take them back because they have been evicted by their new landlord! I told them no. After that bitter experience with Filipinos, we do not want to rent to Filipinos.   Also no Pinoys * Comment first appeared in: ‘No Indians no PRCs’: SG’s rent discrimination problem  Read More →

(27 June 2014)          Publisher says Chinese firms have turned down translation rights and major importer refuses to distribute English copies. Hillary Clinton's bestselling memoir Hard Choices has in effect been banned in China less than a month after its release, the publisher Simon & Schuster has said. The book, in which Clinton retraces her four-year tenure as US secretary of state, contains a number of scenes which paint China's leadership as rigid and oppressive. "It's not a secret that the centre of the anti-democratic movement in Asia is China," she writes. Clinton castigates the Chinese government for censoring a broadcast of her 1995 address to the UN conference on women in Beijing, and dedicates a chapter to negotiations over the blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who sought asylum at the US embassy in spring 2012, threatening a diplomatic falling out. "It's outrageous and unfortunate," the Simon & Schuster president, Jonathan Karp, told Buzzfeed. "And it's a pretty clear indication of the low level of intellectual freedom in China right now."   Read more:              http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/27/hillary-clinton-hard-choices-effective-ban-china    Read More →