I thought the transport fare increase was to give us better service? Why now all ended up with PRC who can't speak english? What is the point of having a bus captain that can't help and is useless during emergency? Screw SMRT!!!:oIo:
SHE fell to the front of the bus when the bus driver hit the brakes to avoid an overtaking car.
INJURED: Arifa had stitches to her head and had her left arm bandaged due to a muscle strain. PICTURE: KELVIN CHNG
She injured her head which bled after grazing the rough surface of the bus floor.
But when the bus driver came to her assistance, Pathiusman Arifa Bee, 16, discovered a language barrier between them.
He could only speak Mandarin, and Arifa, an Indian, could not understand him.
She gathered from his nervous gestures that he was trying to see the bleeding on the top of her head.
Arifa was standing at the rear of Service 985 on 14Jul when a car tried to overtake the bus along the PIE.
This caused the driver to hit the brakes, sending the only three standing passengers, including herself, to fall towards the front of the bus.
Arifa, having stood nearer to the front, was first to take the fall. Her head hit the rough surface of the floor.
The bus driver, having stopped the bus, then approached her and spoke in Mandarin.
The first-year Catholic Junior College student said: 'The other passengers then began translating what we were saying.'
She also claimed that the driver, a Chinese national, was given advice from the other concerned passengers.
Thankfully for her, some of the other passengers who were mainly Chinese Singaporeans, were more than willing to help.
'They offered me towels or tissue to suppress the bleeding.
'A gentleman also requested that the driver take out the first aid kit but apparently, the driver replied in Mandarin: 'I don't know how to open the first aid box.'
A woman then served as the 'middleman' between Arifa and the driver, and suggested that she be sent to a nearby clinic at Jalan Jurong Kechil.
But she later suggested that Arifa be taken to a hospital instead.
At about 7.40pm, Arifa and the two other standing passengers alighted at the bus stop opposite Bukit Timah Plaza.
The three girls, all students of CJC, then bought an ice pack from a petrol station nearby.
The bus driver, who identified himself as Mr Zhou, then transferred the remaining passengers to the next Service 985.
He also waited for the ambulance that arrived at about 7.55pm. The accident occurred at about 7.20pm.
Taken to hospital
Arifa was then taken to the National University Hospital.
Fortunately, she suffered only minor injuries.
Her left arm had to be bandaged due to a muscle strain and part of her head had to be stitched.
Arifa said that Mr Zhou noted down her particulars.
After some prompting from one of the other passengers, he provided her with the SMRT Customer Relations' hotline number as well as his handphone number.
Said Arifa: 'I think he could have handled the entire situation better. All drivers should be trained in handling emergencies on board and especially in speaking basic English.
'Sorry' was the only English word he could say.'
When The New Paper spoke with Mr Zhou, 37, he said in Mandarin that he did not open the first aid kit because the bleeding had already ceased due to the towels provided.
Also, the bus was already close to Bukit Timah Plaza, where he was planning to stop.
'I was worried I might injure other passengers with glass shards if I had broken open the first aid kit. There were 30 or more passengers on board, I had to think about them too.'
Mr Zhou claimed that throughout the incident, he 'wasn't unsure' (as alleged) and 'was talking to her (Arifa) very clearly and calmly'.
He said that he 'was trying to protect her and everyone else'.
He added: 'I feel that I've tried my best. Because she's a student, I was concerned, so I stayed by her side throughout.
'I think that it was because we couldn't communicate that she didn't feel I handled it well.'
Cassandra Jean Joseph, 16, also a first-year CJC student, was one of the standing passengers on the bus when the incident happened.
Like Arifa, she does not speak or understand Mandarin.
She said: 'I've encountered other drivers from mainland China, and I have had no problems with them.'
She said it would be good for service providers to interact with passengers in a multi-racial society like ours.
An SMRT spokesman said that SMRT Service Leaders (SLs), or drivers, are trained and equipped with skills necessary to do their duties well.
In addition, all local and foreign SLs who are less conversant in English are required to attend a Conversational English Training course.
SLs are also taught to be proactive in seeking help from other passengers if they face a communication problem.
SMRT has about 1,850 SLs, of which around 30 per cent are foreign nationals.
SMRT added that it is planning to send Mr Zhou for an English refresher course and has encouraged him to communicate in the language more often.
He said: 'This incident has definitely spurred me to master English.'
