Chapter III: "Plus belle la vie... D'un Singapourien"
It's cool, It’s awesome… it's a Singaporean daily life!
“Bref,” I don’t know where I should start this article. Should I start with the topic on the food in Singapore and its thousand “Hawkers” where every food enthusiast will find happiness? Or may be should I start with the transport network and its countless lines of buses and subway...? On the other hand, I must also speak about all these impressive shopping malls everywhere you go in Singapore…
Ok let’s go. So, as you can imagine, there are so many things to say. And because I want to take the time to explain everything perfectly for you to know afterwards everything about the life-style of Singaporean people, there are going to be not one article, but 3. Haha! AMAAAZING!
In this first article, we are going to speak about all the basic things in Singapore’s life. I mean, the transport and the cost of life.
“Singapore has the most efficient transport service in the world”. It’s common to hear this sentence. You could ask all the Singaporeans, you will have the same answer. They are all very proud of their Public Transport Service. And indeed, they can be proud of it. I’ve never seen a Public Transport service as efficient as this one in my life. Wherever you are, there is a bus which brings you where you are heading, you never wait for more than 12minutes for a bus and besides, the fares are very cheap…
And moreover, all the buses currently used by the transportation company are all very clean and have less than 10 years of service.
Also you need to know that the company which manages the public transport is called the “SBS Transit” and was formerly “Singapore Bus Service.”
But there is not only the bus to move around Singapore. You have also the MRT (for Mass Rapid Transit) which is the local underground, and the Taxi. Let’s develop these 3 means of transport:
First the bus: As I’ve told you just before, the network of buses in Singapore is just incredible.
Imagine, for one city you have more than 400 different lines of buses and for every line you never wait more than 12mins and sometimes less than 2mins at peak hours between 2buses. Moreover, during the “rush hours”, it’s usual to see 2 (if you are lucky 3) buses of the same line arriving at the same time at your stop. SBS Transit counts more than 3 000 buses to manage this oversized network. Obviously all the buses are fully equipped with air-con and are always very clean. You will never see a dirty bus or with some litter on the floor…
But this last remark applies not only for the bus but for the whole city of Singapore…
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Second the MRT: MRT for Mass Rapid Transit is the “new” underground system in Singapore.
The first MRT line was launched on the 7th November 1987.
Actually, if you need to go quickly on the other side of Singapore and you don’t want (or have?) enough cash to pay for a Taxi (which can easily be stuck in one of the many traffic jams…) the MRT is your savior!!
The construction of the MRT was the most expensive project of the city of Singapore. At the beginning, in the early 1980’s, the project was valued at 5 billion Singaporean Dollars.
Today there are 4 lines. The North-South Line, the East West Line, the Circle Line and the North East Line. A 5th line is under construction (the blue one on the map) and another 6th line is on project for 2014 (the black one on the map).
Can you imagine that? Today the MRT network daily transports over 2 million people… To be sure you quite realize my figures, there are about 5 million people in Singapore.
The trains of the Singapore MRT have an extremely important capacity. It’s really impressive the first time you see them… Like the buses, the MRT are every 2 or 5 mins.
Only once, I waited 6mins for a train, I was really shocked for waiting so long, so I asked for a refund… (Or not…)
Sometimes in the morning, taking the MRT is just an impossible mission as the trains are so packed that you need to push people if you don’t want to be cut in two by the automatic doors…
Of course like in the Bus, on the MRT and in the MRT stations, you mustn’t eat or drink and you mustn’t smoke by law.
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Third the Taxi: There are plenty of cabs here in Singapore. In May 2010, more than 25.000 cabs were driving along the Singapore roads. Wherever you are in Singapore, and whenever it may be, there is a cab free for you close to you. And sometimes, it’s really helpful.
Moreover, the transport fares of the cab are very cheap compared to most cities like Paris or London. Here the average price is around SGD 3 on departure and SGD 0,20 every 300m…
In Singapore the cabs are not yellow like in NYC. Here they are blue or red for some of the old ones. And if you don’t want to take the cab of the “beggar”, there is still a “Prestige” Taxi for you. Like Mercedes, Cadillac etc… Obviously the fares are a bit more expensive…
As you can see, in Singapore, the network of public transport is extremely efficient. But I will add some little details about the public transport and the transport in general in Singapore now.
So first you need to know that buying a car in Singapore is extremely costly. It’s one of the most expensive countries in the world as far as cars are concerned. Why? Because the government doesn’t want to let the vehicle fleet grow too quickly to limit the traffic density. Therefore they distribute only a limited number of authorizations for cars (Like: Carte Grise) and if you want one, you need to pay more than your neighbour. Like this the prices take off really quickly. But don't worry if you come here you'll see many Nissan GTR, Ferrari and other Lamborghini... (I notice that the maserati are also very apreciate by the rich Singaporean...)
Another point, if you like riding your bike, I advise you not to bring it here in Singapore. Why again? Because here nothing is made for them. If you want to ride your bike to go to the office, you’ll have to ride between all the cars and it (for me) could be extremely dangerous.
Moreover you don’t see many people riding their bike in the streets…
The streets… Here in Singapore they call “streets” 3 (or sometimes 4) lane roads. You start to understand why I’m saying it’s dangerous to ride your bike in Singapore?
Now let’s speak about the cost of life here in Singapore.
First, try to imagine. Try to imagine huge luxury shopping malls built on 8 levels (sometimes more) everywhere. These entire shopping malls are of course connected to create one giant shopping mall. And all these shopping malls are perfectly linked to all places in Singapore with the MRT and bus network. In each shopping mall, you’ll find one level dedicated to the food. By the way, this is where you can find the most important “Food courts” in Singapore (I’ll speak about them in the next article.)
As you can understand, everything is done here to encourage Singaporeans to consume!
And the consumption of the Singaporean is an important point to understand the cost of life here. Why? Because here the first hobby for Singaporeans is to go… shopping. Yes, normally every (most of them) Singaporean goes shopping after work. I’ve been trying to take these habits to become truly Singaporean, but with the prices I quickly revisited my intentions to go shopping everyday…
The prices for clothes are extremely similar to the European prices. For example a shirt from Fred Perry (yes I like this brand, that’s why I use it for my example.) costs around 139SGD which is 80€. As you can see it’s sometimes more expensive here than in France.
Besides, accommodation in Singapore is also extremely expensive, you should prepare at least 650SGD (377€) a month for a room in an apartment far from the center and more than 1200SGD (697€) for a room in an apartment in the center of Singapore.
The problem is that demand is high, and it grows more and more everyday, whereas the Singaporean government has only a limited area and can build only a limited number of buildings…
Hopefully as a conclusion, the price of the food and the cost of transport are very cheap in Singapore which creates a balance with the cost of lodging.
You can eat for less than 5$ per meal and the offer is highly large.
The fare of transport to cross Singapore is less than 2$. With 50$ on your transport card you can use the transport everyday for 1month and a half.
And… No, that’s all for today folks!
To be continued…
- Bref, comme tu l'a compris l'article n'es pas finit.
- J'ai encore beaucoup de choses à dire,
- J'ai regarder dehors pensant sortir,
- Dehors il pleuvait, comme d'habitude durant la saison des pluies,
- J'ai regarder mon clavier,
- Je suis reparti dans la rédaction d'un nouvelle article,
- bref, c'est un blog à suivre...
The Singapoverblog©
by Pierre BRETAUDEAU