Friday, July 6, 2007

Subways in Singapore

There are signs above the seats that say "give this seat to someone who needs it more than you do". Also on the track there are signs that say "Value Life. Act Responsibly". It's like there are little mom's everywhere in sign form.

Is 'alight' a secret word that everyone else knows except for me? Because it's not impossible that there is a specific term for getting off a subway that everyone uses regularly but for some reason they never use around me... I'd like some feedback here.

The subway also annouced that it would be terminating at the next stop which made me picture Arnold Schwarzeneggar with a bazooka waiting at the next stop to blow it up.

If there's one thing that Singapore Subways do right it's the public service announcement. In the station there was a sign that said "8 out of 10 accidents in this station involved the escalator, 8 out of 10 of the escalator accidents involve people aged 50-80, 5 out of 10 elevator accidents result from not holding the rail - what can you do to help? Remind the elderly to hold on or direct them to the elevator" INGENIOUS. Evidence based, specific solution given, direct and clear message. Is it weird that this sort of thing excites me.

There is a fine on the subway if you bring durians (smelly fruit). There is actually a sign with four pictures of things you can't bring, guns, dogs, beverages, and durians. I love it.

I almost missed my stop bc I was so engrossed in the public service video about terrorism. It went through graphic pictures and casualty listings for the bombings of Madrid, London, and Mumbai and said "don't let this happen to us". It was brimming with buzz words and just fantastic. There was a great skit:
Version 1: A nervous guy carrying a "bulky" and "heavy" bag pushes it under the seat and ALIGHTS and then detonates the bomb with his cell phone as soon as the train pulls away. The CG explosion was absurd.
Version 2: A "vigilant" passenger yells to the man "hey, you forgot your bag!" and he denies that it's his which she thinks is suspicious bc she took note of the "bulky" and "heavy" bag when he came on. She runs to the emergency box and tells the conductor who says "thank you for alerting us, we will evacuate at the next stop taking care to assist the old, young and disabled" and that is the happy ending. Yay for vigilant passengers!
The only problem is that in version 1 the explosion happened immediately after he ALIGHTED so in the happy version 2 where they evacuated it would have been too late and they'd all be dead anyway... Am I the only person who is bothered by the inconsistencies?

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