SG: MRT notes

Some MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) notes:

• Not to be confused with MTR in Hong Kong
• Mostly everything a modern subway should be: goes everywhere, clean, air conditioned, wide concourses
• Definitely buy an “ez link” transit smart card (there’s a S$5/US$4 non-refundable deposit), but after Macau, trust me, you really don’t want to futz with change and figuring out fares
• Goes to Changi Airport (but not if you have a late arrival or a super early departure)
• I like the way stations are named and numbered (and colour-coded) by the line designation, e.g. NE7 Little India is the 6th station on the purple NE (northeast) line.
• mobile phones work in stations and trains
• Does have washrooms in unpaid area of stations (unlike Hong Kong which is shameful), but they are very dirty
• Full glass walls on the edge of the tracks; it occurred to me that besides the obvious safety benefits (can’t jump or be pushed by crowds onto the track), it makes air conditioning of the station platform area more efficient.
• There is a local area map in the station, both in the main concourse and, what I find noteworthy, in the middle of the platform as well (this lets you head in the right direction off the platform, which would have have been more useful in Hong Kong since the platforms are twice as long and the exits more spread out)
• Trains less frequent than Hong Kong – about every 5 minutes
• The floor markings by the train doors have a really wide “let them off” marking, i.e. you Q on the side (Q = queue), unlike Hong Kong where the exit lane is about 1/3 the width of the doors (too narrow!)
• Some lines indicate on which side the doors will open, some don’t

General related notes:

• Cars drive on left side of the road (former British colony), just like in Hong Kong and Macau
• Escalators in the MRT stations usually follow the same pattern, i.e. keep to the left, and you stand on the left on the escalator (in Hong Kong this was totally random)