Ho ho ho! More mud smears on SMRT Corporation's face!
News about a middle-aged woman falling over in a badly-driven SMRT bus and then slipping into a coma came to light today, although the accident had taken place last Sunday. Perhaps the train breakdown uproar was far more important.
Read about it here.
Frankly, I was hardly surprised. Bus drivers, whether they work for SMRT or SBS, are seldom known for having tender driving techniques.
Passengers falling in all directions like ragdolls were a common sight when I used to take the bus regularly to and from school. Efforts to hang onto the grip bars often proved futile because the buses swung too hard around bends or braked too hard.
My clearest memory was of a girl who crashed most dramatically towards the front of the bus, hitting the back of her neck onto a metal bar around the coin box and then stumbling head-first down the steps of the entrance. And the driver drove on. He did not even bother to stop and check if she was alright.
Perhaps back then - more than 10 years ago - consumers were less vocal and there were no conveniently available social media platforms for us to shame the driver.
The part of the story that pissed me off was the standard public relations response SMRT gave, no doubt only after the reporter asked the company for a response to this piece of news: "We are sorry the incident happened and investigations is on-going. We will be in touch with the family."
That's such a cold, unfeeling response. Will it kill them to spend a few more minutes to pen something with a little more warmth?
Our transportation service providers should stop singing that customer service is one of their priorities. It never was ten years ago. It still isn't today.
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