......because it is the only way to get them to operate smoothly!
I pose this question because of my experiences travelling about Singapore in taxis, buses and on trains.
A word of warning to intending visitors. If you have any hint of, or susceptibility to, neck injuries or other spinal problems be sure to bring a NECK BRACE with you. Whiplash injuries are a real prospect when using a taxi or bus.
I say this because it appears that transport drivers have a syndrome called 'NOBUT'. No Belief Understanding or Trust in or of the reliability, or continued running, of the engine contained within the vehicle they pilot.
As a consequence of this 'NOBUT syndrome' each PTV (Public Transport Vehicle) driver must confirm regularly that all is well with the engine and that it continues to operate.
This syndrome appears to be exacerbated by highly structured training.
I see proof of this in buses careening all over Singapore with TRAINING BUS displayed as the destination, piloted by drivers under the supervision of instructors, in a apparent attempt to perfect this 'syndrome'. How else could the end result be so consistent?
So how does the trainer train the trainee to ensure all is as it should be with the vehicle's engine? The steps taken appear to be as follows:
Step 1: Do not rely on any of the instruments residing on the dashboard in front. Nor any other auditory or visual sense. Rely totally on your right foot and the seat of your pants.
Step 2: From any stationary point - preferably, but not restricted to, a bus-stop - check engine operation by pressing FIRMLY on, and completely to its limit, the accelerator. This performs two functions:
Function A: confirms the engine is running by launching the bus out into the traffic flow.
Function B: sends all the OAPs (Old Age Persons - no pensioners in Singapore) who have just boarded the bus, plus their shopping, flying to the rear where they can be, if lucky, assisted from the floor and into a seat.
NOTE I: The second Function only works truly successfully if the snot-sniffing, under-thirty-something, ear-plugs-wearing, face-up-close-to-his/her Samsung-Galaxy (insert latest number) phone/tablet can be shamed out of a seat.
NOTE II: In order to achieve a desired level of physical and personal damage to the greatest number of passengers Step 1 must be initiated at a critical moment. To determine this moment drivers must check their rear-view mirror to ensure any standing passengers are bending over and/or pivoting in order to sit thus placing them at the point of greatest unbalance.
Step 3: Once Step 2 has been performed and the vehicle is moving, immediately release all pressure on the accelerator thus allowing engine braking to reduce the speed of the bus back to, and preferably below, some nominal speed-limit to be determined by whim or proximity to a vehicle in front.
Step 4: When the distance between the PTV (Public Transport Vehicle) and the vehicle ahead has increased to greater than three but no more than four metres, re-apply full pressure to the accelerator.
Step 5: Alternate Steps 3 and 4 at intervals of no more than 5 seconds until approaching the next stop, arrival at which should be at the greatest speed possible and with the greatest amount of braking-force required. Preferably after having again checked the rear-view mirror and confirmed that at least three alighting passengers have released hold of any supporting hardware - poles, seats, straps etc. The intention and result being to deposit them in a heap at the front of the bus.
Whilst most physical damage will be visited upon those boarding and alighting, the constant acceleration/deceleration of the bus between stops results in pronounced movement of the head fore-and-aft. Hence the need for 'whiplash-protection-gear'.
Discomfort and the potential for injury is not restricted to that perpetrated by bus-drivers. Taxi-drivers have apparently viewed the same training DVD, so with a better power-to-weight ratio than buses, the constant acceleration/deceleration can be even more uncomfortable.
To slightly digress I must mention the benefits of automatic, as against manual, gear-boxes in taxis. The new Hyundai taxis are auto, so no problems with them apart from the aforementioned 'whiplash', but the old (1980's??) Toyota Crowns have a manual box. My observation being, drivers of these older taxis tend to use just two of the, at least, four gears available. First and top only are to be used with the last one to be shifted into as soon as physically possible and not changed out of until the point of engine-stall. Use of the clutch is at the discretion of the driver. The noise and vibration throughout the vehicle is an experience.
Returning to trains, I make this observation. Following to the opening of the first Red and Green Line MRTs, both operated by a driver, planners realized the problem they had created. As a result, subsequent lines are now operated driver-less with computers controlling the process resulting in the ride improving immeasurably.
Now all we have to do is wait for technology in taxis and buses to catch up.
