life's a flash

i find it quite cool that someone/some organisation actually bothered to do a documentary on the new circle line. i caught a bit of it and there was this student interviewed.

he said he now only requires 10 minutes to reach school. from my estimation (as i know where he stays and what school he has to go to), previously he probably needed 20 to 30. most of us are nodding in agreement, that this is a plus. but take a step back and ponder. what difference is that?! can that little time saved be used to achieve much more?

this brings up once again a fundamental and overcooked issue of the fast-paced life in singapore. to rush and to rush, many not even sure for what purpose. it'd be too shallow of me and too weak an argument to criticise this problem and way of life with such a simple perspective, but i hope to just make u think about it, that's all.

i was recently in china for the sino-sing undergrad exchange. nanjing (6,600 sq-km, 7.5m people) and xi'an (10,000 sq-km, 8.2m people) have one mrt line each. yangzhou has none (6,600 sq-km, 4.6m people).

singapore, area of 710 sq-km and population of 4.8m, has four.

when the mass rapid transit was first conceptualised, it was to complement the bus service, the former to provide a transport spine to the country, the latter covering the grassroots. today, soon when the circle line is completed, every corner u turn towards, u'd be met with a station.

accessibility, convenience and connectedness are the hallmarks of the so-called world class public transport system in singapore. im not complaining about an improved system set to benefit most, if not all. but at what costs?

the environment? the increased urbanising of this island, an unbelievable amount of materials injected into project after project, trash, and of course electricity to run all of these.

taxes? do we need all these and are the taxes we pay justified?

fare hike? they enforce 'improvements' and then charge us for it.

and etc, things im ashamedly not knowledgeable enough to discuss.

to further my point. results of a survey of 12 countries released recently showed that singapore youths can complete 42 hours of work in a day of 24 hours. wow.