No one fight for our Local Bus drivers on pay issues. Now this happens .

[Watchman]

Singapore lady complained of PRC bus drivers being ignorant of bus routes
April 5, 2010 by admin

An obviously peeved Singapore lady Ms Wong Kit Peng has written a letter to the Straits Times Forum today complaining about PRC bus drivers who “did not understand simple English and were ignorant of the routes they plied.”

She related two recent encounters with PRC bus drivers who were unable to comprehend her queries:

“In the first case – SBS Transit service 151 – I asked if the bus stopped at National Junior College. The driver had difficulty with my query, even though I repeated the location a few times. The same thing happened on SMRT service 852, when I asked if the bus went to Selegie Road and Peace Centre,” she wrote.

Ms Wong wondered why SBS and SMRT are now hiring bus drivers with doubtful English language proficiencies and knowledge of the bus routes.

She thought they are doing so to cut costs:

“If bus companies have trouble hiring drivers, perhaps it is time to improve their pay. It is better to cut costs by, say, going green than hiring drivers who hurt service quality,” she ended her letter.

Ms Wong cannot be more wrong if she thinks that Singapore bus companies are recruiting PRC bus drivers because they are cheaper.

According to a Sichuan newspaper, an unknown “big” Singapore bus company is currently mass recruiting prospective bus drivers from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, China. (read article here)

The PRC applicants are offered annual salaries ranging between RMB90,000 and RMB120,000 (approximately $1,562 – $2,082 monthly taking S$1 = RMB4.80) and are also given free lodging, transport allowances and medical insurance coverage.

The applicants must have a Chinese class “A” driver and three years of driving experience of public transport in China.

With such attractive terms, it is highly unlikely that the company will encounter difficulties recruiting Singaporeans for the job.

Are PRC nationals safer drivers than Singaporeans? Or are they more experienced? Perhaps the HR managers of SBS and SMRT should go to China and take their buses for a week and witness for themselves the “performance” of PRC bus drivers:

[Photo: A PRC bus driver showing how he can "multi-task" in China]

Due the PAP’s liberal immigration and pro-China policies, large number of Chinese from mainland China have flocked to Singapore to work, study and live in recent years, many of whom are unable to speak a single word of English.

Unlike other countries like Australia and Canada, foreigners do not have to pass a basic English proficiency test to work in Singapore which explains the large number of PRC bus drivers who do not understand or speak English.

PAP strongman Lee Kuan Yew said in a recent interview with National Geographic magazine that it is a “good” thing that Singapore has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants (from mainland China) as they are more “hard-driving” and “hard-striving” than locals.

When your correspondent took a bus driven by a PRC bus driver and half-filled with PRC nationals along Geylang road lately, he almost thought he was in some third-tier city of China.

View photos of how PRC bus drivers drive on the road here

 

[red amoeba]

thats what mrs wong dun noe...when SBS and TIBS say they go green and buy those fancy buses (WAB)...u noe what? They r subsidised by LTA de.

So to them, its okay what, its a free polishing to their reputation and makes them look good and socially responsible companies.

now, if they pay more to hire local drivers - tis is not subsidised and hit their books...no no.

thats why they are going to cut the long distance buses see, like that ur bus trip is so short, no need to ask direction de, from where u board, u can see where the bus will end see?

the next problem then is, what bus to change to go to the next waypoint...har...that one, u go figure urself loh....

 

[Logisex]

If a bus driver in Sichuan cannot understand the local sichuan dialect, he will be fark on the spot by passengers everyday till he either has to learn the language fast or balek kampung.

In Singapore, passengers kpkb online as though those PRCs will actually log into internet everyday after work, check whether there are any complaints against them in stomper or sammyboy, then head to the British Council to learn English from the native speakers.

 

[UseYourBrain]

Coming Soon! Akan Datang

 

[jw5]

I am totally against non value added foreigners coming here and taking on jobs, but who are unable to speak even simple english to communicate with non mandarin speaking customers or who have little knowledge of their jobs.

But I still have to make these 2 points:

1. I can't understand why the person complaining didn't make the effort to understand her bus route. At every bus stop these days, there are detailed signs of every stop that each bus stops at. Taking 2 minutes to look at these signs won't cost her a lot.

2. Although I read the signs, there was one occasion where I boarded a bus and it took me on an unfamiliar route. I asked the prc national driver, and he told me very politely and clearly in mandarin that the bus took a different route on weekdays and weekends, and told me exactly where I should alight for the shortest route to my destination.

What I'm saying therefore is that:
Agree foreigners should know a little english and their jobs; also think that commuters should know their own bus routes beforehand; give some credit to the foreigners who do their jobs well; and most importantly, vote out some pappies for letting in too many non value added foreigners who cause trouble

 

[ILaidLeiaB4Solo]

Singapore lady complained of PRC bus drivers being ignorant of bus routes
April 5, 2010 by admin

[Ms Wong cannot be more wrong if she thinks that Singapore bus companies are recruiting PRC bus drivers because they are cheaper.

According to a Sichuan newspaper, an unknown “big” Singapore bus company is currently mass recruiting prospective bus drivers from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, China. (read article here)

The PRC applicants are offered annual salaries ranging between RMB90,000 and RMB120,000 (approximately $1,562 – $2,082 monthly taking S$1 = RMB4.80) and are also given free lodging, transport allowances and medical insurance coverage.
The applicants must have a Chinese class “A” driver and three years of driving experience of public transport in China.

With such attractive terms, it is highly unlikely that the company will encounter difficulties recruiting Singaporeans for the job.

I was watching the Al-Jazeera's clip about homeless in Singapore, and it makes me wonder.......

Are those homeless people willing to accept the salary offered considering the plight they are in now.....
If they do, it would solve their housing problem as free lodging is provided, plus they have a job, and medical coverage.....

Is the transport company willing to offer these homeless people the job? who knows the road of singapore better than singaporean?

The answer to these 2 problems is right in front of our eyes. if only some government people would get busy and mesh these 2 together and this would solve some problems

 

[Watchman]

Sometimes you scratch your head !