Dear friends, I love the opening of MRT SBK. Seriously. I have been writing and trying to persuade everyone to give it a try. Save more money with it. Then invest those savings. However, please do not come and tell me that it is a ‘cure for all.’ Especially to the one who said that Malaysia’s MRT is not as good as Singapore’s. The person who is working in Singapore said proudly, “In Singapore, I can reach practically anywhere with public transport. In Malaysia, no way!”
There is nothing wrong with his statement, I have taken Singapore’s MRT and I rate them one of the best. I have also been on Japan’s bullet trains and buses, London’s underground tube, trains all over Europe, Korea’s MRT, Taiwan’s trains, Bangkok’s BTS and even Hong Kong’s MTR. In Malaysia, I have been on public busses, express buses, KTM trains, ETS, LRT, Monorail and even our latest MRT SBK. I hope I am quite qualified to respond? Haha.
I have a family and I want CONVENIENCE. Have you ever been to the shopping centre with a two kids and one wife? The kids need a stroller, a baby carrier and even a bag full of their stuffs, at least. The wife would most probably start with a handbag and end with 3 bags of shopping items or more if we are going to the supermarket. With my Exora, all these are easily handled and if needed, I can even carry my parents to the mall too.
With the MRT, it would be really inconvenienced. Oh yeah, everyone can also take a GRAB but even taking a GRAB means taking all those stuffs up and down the car which is still slightly less convenient compared to owning my own car. By the way, all my friends working in Singapore and has a family would share with me that they still prefer to have a car on weekends. My friends in Hong Kong, despite such well connections also own cars. They could use them during weekends for real conveniences.
I love to stay fit but I prefer to do it in the gym or Mount Kinabalu. Regardless of the country that I have been to, none has MRT stations right outside your home all the time. Most of the time, one would need to talk a bit. Sometimes, it’s 5 minutes walk, sometimes we need to take a bus to the station and occasionally, it RAINS or the SUN made the walk uncomfortable.
One colleague who takes the LRT and sweats easily like me is always wet when he arrives in the office. Imagine if we have to carry a lot of stuffs, that would make it even worse. I love to exercise everyday. I love to sweat every day too. However, there are many occasions that I would like to arrive at the function smelling fresh. Yeah yeah, take GRAB, right? Haha. The debate here is not between GRAB vs owning a car…
By the way, I still think owning a car has slight advantages compared to GRABbing all the time. My new office is just 5 minutes walk from the KLCC LRT station. Yes, I will take it a few times per month. Let me be more sure of my daily schedule first because I occasionally needs to meet customers. Happy taking the MRT yeah but to anyone from ‘better’ MRT countries, there is no need to compare because I prefers to own a car which I could still afford to buy with my salary.
written on 4 Aug 2017
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