Lately I’ve been thinking of going on a getaway to anywhere that’s accessible by flight. I missed the Changi experience (which strangely was pipped by KLIA in airport ranking lately), the experience of flying at a mile above ground, and also the pilot greeting which usually goes like this:

“A very good afternoon to you ladies and gentlemen. From the flightdeck, this is your captain speaking. I would like to welcome you onboard this flight SQ2 to Hong Kong. Our flight time this afternoon is about 3 hours and 20 minutes. [...] On behalf of the crew onboard this aircraft, we wish you a pleasant flight.”

My wish came sooner than expected.

Today while I transferring at Jurong East MRT station, I heard the following announcement while I was seated in the train waiting for it to depart:

“Good afternoon passengers. Welcome aboard SMRT. We hope you have an enjoyable journey with us. Thank you.”

I was pleasantly surprised by the friendly greeting made by the train officer (i.e. the person driving the train). It sure perked up the otherwise boring train ride. Since when did SMRT upgrade their train officers to train pilots? [Post note: I read in a forum that another person heard a similar announcement on 9 Apr which goes like this: "Good evening passengers, the train is about to leave towards Marina Bay shortly. On behalf of my colleagues, I wish you a safe and pleasant ride on SMRT. Thank you."]

Some digression. As it is not a pre-recorded announcement, I am sure this is an isolated incident of an overenthusiastic train officer trying to go the extra mile in customer service — which is perfectly fine as the message is pleasant. However, imagine how the same train officer would react if the pre-recorded message could not be played due to technical error? I cannot fathom how he will replace the “Doors closing… dooo….dooo….doooo……….”. (By the way, do let me know how many “doos” are there if you manage to count.)

Upon alighting at my terminal station, I noticed that gone are the lines and lines of advertising messages promoting their failed Dhoby Xchange and SMRT Link shuttle. Instead, the junk messages are replaced by a simple static statement of “Welcome to Woodlands station”.

Without having to pay attention to the junk messages, travelling by MRT is a better experience. It would be better if they also stop playing the free shuttle bus announcement during weekdays (because it’s not operating!). And to SBS Transit, please give us back the quiet environment by muting the TV Mobile. That’s all I ask of you…

Source:

Singapore’s Land Transport: Happenings in Singapore’s land transport landscape

sgtransport.blogspot.com/ sgtransport.blogspot.com/