How inefficent the 'first world' Singapore is.

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS)'s Casino opening indeed has created a continuous flow of human traffic at the HarbourFront MRT Terminal, VivoCity and the bus stop outside VivoCity which RWS8 shuttle service stops to pick up passengers to RWS.

I did notice everyone be it SBS, VivoCity's mangament, Traffic Police deployed resources to ensure smooth operations with the huge crowd. However, the long queue at the MRT station general ticketing machine (GTM) exposes how third world standard are of our public transport fare collection system.

So much of the ESC's report of encouraging people to invest more to improve productivity when the the public sector isn't willing to spend capital to improve current system themselves.

There was a massive long queue for tourist to purchase and return their single trip ticket farecard to collect the $1 deposit on top of commuters who might wish to top up their farecards. I roughly counted that there was 40 - 50 people queueing at any one time. It seems queuing is getting to become a part and parcel of a typical Singaporean's life.

It's costly as the tourist might have more time to shop to purchase goods or the positive impression they've for Singapore's infrastructure. All these factors aren't going to be able to be counted in real monetary terms.

Back in late December I suggested to LTA about using RFID chip to act as the single trip ticket medium to increase efficiency. It has been done in Taipei. Yet it was shot down citing it being too costly to upgrade the system.

I'm dumbfounded. If Singapore can spend billions onto building more and more MRT lines and we can't even spend money to improve on our current facilities, what does it show? Firstly, it's like one Chinese phase, aiming high when you can't get your basics done.

Secondly I wonder are we getting complacent, thinking we should content with what we've now? Or is it wait till others overtake us and we've lost of attractiveness to foreign investors before we buck up? W/o natural resources, it's practically suicide. Anyway in the first place, if cost is an issue, how could we have money to build new MRT lines? Isn't it contradictory?

In fact Taipei's MRT service level is much much better in terms of service, efficiency, frequency than SMRT. I salute to the Tapei MRT's management as the system being BOT (build operate transfer), profitability is harder to achieve compared to SMRT and yet able to provide better MRT service than Singapore.

In Singapore LTA plans, build the MRT line and stations. It would then be given to operators to operate with a concession, after which the operational profits would be kept by the operator. But this cannot be said for BOT projects whereby the operator would build from scratch and eventually operate the line themselves. Hence they could only recover their investment in the construction phase years later.

Investment in productivity and efficiency requires effort, the will to get it done and capital to start with. At the same time the effect of better profitability would only be seen around 5 years later (not instant results). Hence we have to do away with obsession on short term profit gains before it's too late into creating an economy with better leading edges against other economies in the long run.

Oh well, back to myself watching the movie starring Fann Wong on Channel 8 on the perceived typical government department bureaucracy.

Resorts World Sentosa visit

Mmm. Visited the place incl Festive Hotel & Hard Rock Hotel. The reality is that only the 4 hotels are virtually opened for business in the IR.

Nice interior. Of course the Casino entrance is the place of 'interest' for now especially it's the first time you see the word "Casino" in Singapore. Hopefully Universal Studio Singapore would open soon. I myself would likely enter least once in my lifetime (weekday ticket cost S$66).

Anyway there's already NightRider NR1 & NR6 operating to/ from RWS to Yishun & Sengkang New Town respectively. During the Weekend daytime, there's RWS shuttle service RWS88 (S$2 per trip, to City Hall MRT Station/ Coleman St bus stop {Used by SBS Sv 130 towards Ang Mo Kio} at 20 mins frequency) and 963R (Distance related Express fares between S$1.50 and S$2.35, serving Clementi, Bt Batok, Hillview, Bt Panjang, Woodlands residential bus stops at 30 - 40 mins frequency).

It seems that SMRT has already anticipated the eventual IR crowd to be high. Hence my ride on RWS88 was terrible, the bus hogging the bus lane at 20kph along Telok Blangah Rd, Kg Bahru Rd, Eu Tong Sen St as SMRT allocated a whopping 45 mins travelling time for the short journey. Beats me though that the bus uses the congested Chinatown area (due to DTL works) than using Robinson Rd/ Fullerton Rd.

People are puzzled with RWS88 & 963R as it approaches the bus stop as SMRT has apparently missed out onto updating service information on top of the current RWS8 at the RWS bus stop. Little needs to mention there's no queueing system in place yet for RWS88 & 963R.

Resorts World Sentosa opening on Wed

Yes, it's opening on Wednesday starting with 4 out of 6 hotels.

From CNA, SMRT would be introducing 6 more bus services to Resorts World Sentosa. I wonder where is SMRT going to get the buses with their current fleet size.

CNA article on the first day of revised Sentosa entry fee:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1031528/1/.html