Double Barrel Snafu

It was already difficult to write about the breakdown of the Bukit Panjang LRT Line on Sunday, coming so soon after the announcement of the insidious fare hikes. The really difficult part was SMRT's refusal to respond to queries on what actually caused the power failure to occur between Fajar and Bangkit station at about 9.19 am. That particular LRT system had two breakdowns causing delays exceeding 30 minutes last year, but obviously no red flag was raised. And in April 2012, the same line provided the first spectacular images of the uniquely Singapore skywalk, when 11 passengers had to a balance gingerly on the steel rails to reach the safety of the next station. Where the escalators fortunately did not burst into flames. The escalator fire was at Toa Payoh MRT station in April 10, 2012.

Blame PTC, not SMRT,
for fare hike

Before the explanation about the Bukit Panjang disruption could even make it to print, another snafu took place at the North-South Line (NSL) this morning, inflicting misery on  19,000 commuters at a Monday morning's peak hour rush. This time a signal fault at around 8.10 am supposedly caused a southbound train to stall about 500 metres from Ang Mo Kio station.

The Netflix PowerPoint presentation, which apparently went viral on the internet, is about their company approach to talent and culture and has 5 points.  The first two stands out in the light of our train failures:
1) Hire, reward and tolerate only fully formed adults
2) Tell the truth about performance

The first point confirms the obvious.  Not satisfied with playing soldiers, the kids are now placed in charge of a big train set. The frustration here is that their ongoing incompetence - the new team has been installed for over a year - is not only being tolerated, they are rewarded with fare hikes which will surely guarantee their bonus cheques. Point two is about transparency, which doesn't exist in their official lexicon. All they have is a string of euphemisms to stonewall until the next round of fare hikes.

SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek said "timing is most unfortunate" that the incident occurred just after a fare hike was announced last week. He sounds like saying the disruption is to be expected, situation normal all fouled up, and the only unfortunate element is the timing, not the big fail in performance. April 6 is still a few months ahead, maybe there's time to implement one Facebook fan's suggestion: "Why don't they introduce a system whereby fares will be reduced each time there is a breakdown?" Better still, dock the pay of the Lieutenant General in charge and his line up from the kindergarten sandpit.

Sorry guys, you can't vote us out