LIKE FAMILY
The normal interactions among travellers, as well as between driver and passengers, on a second vehicle are surprisingly less melancholy.
The community spirit means bus captain Tan Kok Peng, also from Tower Transit , double as a timer for his regular customers. The 52-year-old even drives the primary vehicle of Service 143, starting at 5. 30am on weekends, although his voyage starts from Toa Payoh vehicle exchange instead.
Mr Tan, who has been plying the vehicle 143 path for 16 times, said his customers are “relaxed and assured” that he will wake them up if they doze off.
“Since we’re the second vehicle, we know their normal routine. We may occasionally warn them before we even arrive at the stop. Like if they don’t come over, you know they’ve fallen asleep, ” he said in Mandarin.
Mr Tan’s regulars try to reward him with items, especially during Chinese New Year. He acknowledges having customers request a visit to his house in Johor Bahru, Malaysia during the holiday season, but he also admits no knowing how to respond to such kindness.
A Malay aunt again emailed me for my phone number. She used to promote cake puffs and may give me two whenever she would take my van every day, he recalls. “She would give me hongbao ( red packet ) whether it ’s on Chinese New Year or Hari Raya. This kind of relationship has lasted for more than ten times. ”
For Chinese New Year last year, Mr Tan received around S$ 900 in full from people.
“They ask me to keep the money, but if I don’t maintain it, it ’s like I don’t value them,” he said. ” Sometimes I don’t want to take it, but they will put it into my shirt pocket. And when I tell them that they’re even old and they need the cash, they may say ‘No, this is for you’.
“Sometimes in one hongbao, there’s S$ 100. That’s a lot ( of money ) for the elderly. ”