The Bus Is My Other Car.

Land Transport Gallery Tour

I never had high expectation of Land Transport Gallery because our transport history is almost unheard of. It is an irony that bus fans in Singapore who wish to purchase books about Singapore buses have to buy them from bus merchandise shops in Hong Kong. We hear about building conservation, but what about transport conservation?


The Land Transport Gallery is set up in a chronological format, namely Journeys, Memories, Formative Years, Land Transport Today, Challenge Theatre, Vision and Aspirations. At the beginning of the Journey, a "train" picked us up from a "platform", and the glazed platform doors open to the Memories gallery. The interior of mosquito bus, taxis are replicated. There are also models of traffic policemen.


The Formative Years would probably tick more with people about my age. Ticket punches, old Transitlink guides, bus tickets, an array of vehicle registration plates are showcased. On display is a model of the first MRT prototype which we have never seen before!

Land Transport Today gallery explains the 'why' and 'how' of what we see today. To quote an example, you might have wondered why the need for two consecutive interchanges at City Hall and Raffles Place. This is so that East-West and North-South lines can be arranged in such a way that transfer of trains at City Hall and Raffles Place Interchanges can be seamless. In other words, passengers need only to cross the platform for transfer without having to travel to another platform above or below. In the gallery, a tunnel boring machine is also displayed.

The game in the Challenge Theatre was interactive. In the game we are transport planners making a decision between two choices. Our decisions were consolidated and shown. The consequences to each decision were shown. However, many of us believed that the programme was pre-programmed. It was a consensus among the bus fans to choose "introduce more direct bus services" than to "expand rail network", but the results show otherwise...

Vision and Aspirations showcases possible technologies we might use in the future, for example, a very advanced Iris. Inspiring.


A replica of 'Tunnel TV' greeted us at the end of our tour. If you haven't seen Tunnel TV, it is a new advertisement channel developed by SMRT for commuters onboard a moving train to see advertisements along the tunnel. For the 'Tunnel TV' exhibit in LTA, you can only see the advertisement if you walk. If you stand still, all you can see is a row of black screen.

Yup, and I enjoyed the tour!

posted by 23degreecelsius @ 10:47 PM 2 Comments

Back to school...

Can't believe that when I blogged this entry, I had finished my VERY FIRST university module and the second module is starting soon.

I was stressed for the first two weeks because of a very wrong mindset about university, thinking that the lecturer goes through briefly in class, and we are supposed to read through the textbk thoroughly, to the extent of reading EVERY WORD on a 600+ pages textbook. The anointing came when, Teck Whee, the afternoon class TA, corrected my studying strategy. Also very thankful to my TA Paul for the guidance, and fellow course-mate Jonathan for reminding me not to be too obsessed over the teeny-weeny details. With them, I enjoyed the Game Theory module.

I enjoyed my three weeks of hiatus from school. Felt so relieved when I returned to Alexandra to work! Finally I saw the familiar happy faces. Missed my colleagues, the Cleaner Auntie and especially the Yong Tau Foo Uncle (and his Yong Tau Foo). (: Things at School Kopitiam lacks an important ingredient - the 人情味.

posted by 23degreecelsius @ 9:08 PM 1 Comments