on the new record for time taken to go home after work...

 

yeaps, yesterday's journey set a new record. I took 2 hours and 35 mins to travel from my office to the bus terminal in my area. I did not go home after this long, LONG journey, because I needed movie therapy to wash away the tiredness of the day.

What happened was I left office around 6.10pm. Everyday, I have to take 2 buses in my journey, to travel across from Bedok area to Woodlands. If I leave office on the dot at 5.30pm sharp*, I usually take 1 hour 15 min to 30 to travel back. But last evening, had to take care of some stuff to prepare for today's meetings, so stayed till around 6-ish.

When I reach the bus-stop at Eunos at 6.25pm, I was kinda apprehensive because the evening traffic that was on the road was really SLOW-going. I was wondering how long it will take my bus to come in the face of such snail-paced traffic,

It took 35 mins for that 1 single bus to come.

Now I understand that public bus companies have been doing their utmost in improving the satisfaction of the commuters by providing us with more air-conditioned buses, or more seats, or even with on-board telecasts**. But would it hurt their profits just to provide an additional one or two buses for a particular across-the-island service during peak hours??

After I managed to squeeze myself onto the bus at 7.05pm, it took another staggeringly-slow 1 hour 20 minutes to travel from Eunos to Woodlands. on this portion, I have to commend the bus captain, who made sure that that the passengers moved as far back to occupy the back stretches of the bus. he also tried to stop at every stop to pick up passengers, on account that  he knew a lot of people have been waiting more than 30 mins at each stop for his bus. Alas, there were only so many additional passengers that he could take onto his bus.

Thank God that we all made it back to the terminal in one piece. The bus was packed to the brim; I'm not sure whether it was overloaded with passengers or not, but I gave a quick thanks-giving prayer one my feet touched the blessed ground of Woodlands.

Man, I need to find an alternative to go back home after 6pm...

 

*which I do most of the time, cause my office don't believe in making people stay beyond the stipulated time.

 ** which is not really a boon actually. I prefer my peace and quiet, rather than watching flickering screens on the bus, which at times gives off loud sounds of static.