Should passengers ask bus drivers to tell them where to drop; should drivers have working knowledge of English?

Two months ago, I think, listeners of a radio programme was asked to call in with their views as to whether they think that it is OK for passengers to ask bus drivers to tell them where to drop, i.e. a passenger not familiar with the route, gets up the bus and asks the driver if a certain place is along the route, and then asks the driver if he could signal to the passenger once the bus approaches the relevant bus stop.

How disappointed I was with the responses. For about 15 mins, I heard nothing but that bus drivers are generally providing great service to the commuters, and that they should not be asked to advice commuters as to when they should get off the bus. Am I missing the point here, or are the callers themselves bus drivers?

Is it not the duty of the bus driver to know their route? Is it not a part of the bus company’s service, that their customers be notified when the bus reaches their stop? There is a reason why a passenger asks the driver for such help – because the passenger is unfamiliar with the place, and would like the advice of the bus driver, who plies the route multiple times a day.

One of the reasons why the callers said that passengers should not expect bus drivers to give them such advice is that they passenger should have read the bus guide and know when to stop. Allo… have you seen the bus guide. You not only need the bus guide but also a street directory to understand where to stop. What about folks who cannot read — old folks who really need the help. Are the callers missing the point? Even if I understood the bus guide — I will still ask the driver for help to tell me when I should get off the bus. I believe that is part of the service I paid for.

Callers also said that drivers must concentrate on passenger safety and not complicate their jobs by giving this added service of telling a passenger that it is time for them to alight. Wow, at what speed are these drivers driving that passenger safety will be jeapordised by a simple shout to the passenger to get off at the right stop?

One caller even said that bus drivers are already busy with giving passengers change. Huh? When did this ever happen. You don’t have change, you just put whatever notes you have into the slot — bus drivers have never given people change. Obviously, this caller had never been on a bus — or was on a bus years ago, when they still had bus conductors.

Even worse, were callers who said that bus drivers not speaking English was OK. Whaaat? When did it become OK for them not to speak English?? When bus drivers came from Malaysia, all of them could speak English and local dialects well. Now, a large percentage are from faraway and it is OK for them not to understand English?? Are the bus companies missing a point here? Don’t they expect locals to speak English before employing them? What kind of criteria are you basing your employment of these “foreign talent”? Can drive OK lah. No service OK lah. Don’t understand when passengers speak to them OK lah — cos they are paid to drive, not to talk?

For a country with aspirations of being number 1 in everything we do, I find Singaporeans lacking in self esteem — we have wholeheartedly accepted the view that substandard service is OK. For a nation of complainers when we don’t get our way, we have somehow accepted a lower standard for these “foreign talent”. If you expect the local Hassan, Ah Leong and Muthu to understand and respond to your questions in a language you understand? why not place the same standards on Baiyun or Goashuang?

        

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