TOPIC 3

ARTICLE LINK: http://newslink.asiaone.com/user/OrderArticleRequest.action?order=&_sourcePage=%2FWEB-INF%2Fjsp%2Fuser%2Fsearch_type_result.jsp&month=09&year=2008&date=02&docLanguage=en&documentId=nica_ST_2008_9857340

TITLE OF ARTICLE: Those who don’t pay fare
AUTHOR: Maria Almenoar
PUBLISHER: The Straits Times
DATE: 2nd September 2008 (Tuesday)

In the context of road users, “cheating” does indeed come in many forms. With reference to the article, cheating cases which take place on public transport seem to quantitatively prevail over other forms of cheating on the road. Commuters who neglect to pay the appropriate fare when taking transport constitute more than 95% of all road cheats caught everyday. But why would such unscrupulous thoughts involving the breach of personal integrity even cross these peoples’ minds in the first place?

Obviously, the attitudes and motives of these road users are questionable, be it people who fail to pay the correct fare, or people who simply “forget” to display parking coupons. Could one of the likely reasons behind these problems be the result of the “kiasu” attitude exerting its influence on the actions of some citizens? In view of the fact that that the media estimates that only a minute portion of all people who cheat on the roads are caught everyday, the effect of a fine seems to have lost its power to deter. “After all, who cares about not paying fares or not displaying a parking coupon, as long as you don’t get caught?”

A few months ago, our RE group was preparing to return to school after meeting our external mentor. However, one of us realised that he had left his EZ Link card in school. We persuaded him to borrow coins from us to pay the bus fare, but to no avail, with him insisting that “the chance of being caught not paying the fare is close to zero”. As the bus arrived, he tried to blend in with the crowd, hoping that his stunt would pull off.

Fat hope.

At the next stop, the vigilant bus driver stopped the bus, stomped to the back, and chided our group member on the spot. Confronted by the bus captain, he desperately borrowed money from the rest of us and paid the fare. Fortunately for him, this was before the penalties for fare evasion had been stepped up, or his lack of integrity would have cost him.

Nevertheless, not all bus drivers are vigilant enough to catch fare evaders. Even after the implementation of heavier fines, an exponential number of fare evaders are caught on the roads everyday. Bearing in mind that the term “road cheating” includes but is not limited to fare evasion, imagine the whopping number of such unintegrous acts that take place each day!

Approaching the problem from a different angle, is it possible that the problem of cheating on the roads could be attributed to something else? I recall the initial establishment of the EZ-Link service in 2001. Following the implementation of EZ-Link cards, it was promised that the fare evasion problem would be more or less tackled. However, looking back at the number of fare evasion cases alone, it seems that technology has failed to deliver its promise. In some other countries (eg. Sarawak), where the public transport system is less technologically enhanced, a bus conductor is present to manually collect bus fares, thus making fare evasion practically impossible, as one would instantly be booted out of the bus by the conductor if he neglects to pay the fare. Singapore could very well revert back to these old ways, but is it worth it to trade our convenience for SMRT’s maximised profit? I think not.

Cheating on the roads is indeed an imminent problem today. At this very moment, a commuter could even be smuggling himself onto a public bus for free. As public users, it should be our responsibility to adhere to the rules when on the roads, and to uphold the high moral standards which we should possess.