The Beautiful & Ugly Truths

The ERL is one of the most comfortable trains of world class standard in Malaysia. But dishearteningly, many (though not all) of its passengers are "kiasu".

So familiar, yet so strange

Getting It
Try boarding the KLIA Transit during peak hours e.g. in the mornings and evenings when folks are busy commuting to work and back home, and you'll get what I mean.

No Better, Maybe the Worst
If you happen to be one of those in the needy category (e.g. being an elderly, or visibly pregnant, or a person carrying a child), you'll soon appreciate this "kiasu" factor more than ever. The chances of being offered a seat in the KLIA Transit because you happen to fall under the needy category is no better than when you take the LRT or KTM Komuter.

One in a Million
In general, meeting generous souls is quite a rare thing in our public transport scenario. Sad, but true. But from my personal experience, the chance of meeting kind folks who offer their seats to those in need is highest when you board the Kelana Jaya Line train (formerly known as PUTRA LRT), followed by Monorail, the Ampang/Sri Petaling Line (formerly called STAR LRT), KTM Komuter, and lastly, the ERL.

The Connexion
The ERL happens to be the most expensive amongst all the trains here. I wonder if higher purchasing power has any correlation with the higher level of "kiasu"ness among some (not all) ERL passengers - like maximising the money's worth of the ticket purchased. Or is it any other factor?

Far from Pleasant
My two cents here is that, the public transportations in our country is still far from passenger-friendly. The ERL may top others in terms of punctuality and arguably even comfort, but alas... the actual scenario is unfortunately tainted by "kiasu" attitudes among many of its passengers.

Thank You
However, having said that, I nevertheless highly appreciate those in the minority good Samaritan category who kindly offer their seats to folks in need of seats.

Those Days
Self-praise is no praise, but I used to offer my seat to others until I become needy of a seat myself. Do I expect anything in return of my small gesture? No, I don't and I shouldn't. There were even times when I felt discouraged to offer my seat, when I came across "recipients" who were either expressionless or thought there's no need to say "thank you".

Yes, I did get angry at times, being an imperfect human in the world. But I had to do it. It's either my conscience of making sure that a heavily-pregnany woman in front of me doesn't fall and cause harm to at least her innocent little one inside, or making an unfair generalisation that all passengers on board are "kiasu" and therefore deserve no help.

Nowadays
Pretty desperate for a seat nowadays, especially a long day out from morning until evening, I have little choice but to queue up on the platform to maximise my chances of securing a seat. I wish I can relax on the steel bench while waiting for the train, but I can't because so far, I've encountered only one precious occasion (after taking the train for how many times?) when a young lady was kind enough to ask me to sit.

Queue Up! Beratur...

This is going to be blatant because I'm sick of this awful habit - people's inability to queue up!

What's the use of having 1st class facilities / infrastructure if folks still possess a no-class mentality? Some fella' can dress up damn smartly and even appear nice, but they're actually monsters when it comes to lining themselves up fairly when boarding the LRT.

Like that 'uncle' who appeared so nice and pleasant, until he treated others who were in front of him as though they're invisible. Like that young woman taking advantage of another woman older than herself, until the older woman put her hand across and sternly said "please queue up".

These 2 incidences were observed on 2 days - the 'uncle' case occured today at Bandaraya STAR station, while the 'young woman' case occured yesterday at Masjid Jamek PUTRA station. All happened in the evening when people were busy rushing home after work.

The LRT ride per se is stressful enough due to the people-packed factor. Inconsiderate folks who jump queues only make things worse. But for cost and traffic-jam factors, I wouldn't have bothered taking the LRT at all. The streets around Sogo are terribly congested every morning and evening (especially evening), and being highly unfamiliar with that area, I think it's not a brilliant idea to drive there myself.

So, I continued enslaving myself with having to take PUTRA, then switch to STAR. And seeing inconsiderate people who can't queue for no good reason.

No amount of status, work position, etc, can determine whether a person can or cannot queue. It's all about civics. One is either civic-minded, or otherwise.