"We want to minimise our exposure to the claims," said LTA deputy chief executive T. S. Low.

Every additional day of delay meant that claims would go up. So the LTA acquired the building and told everyone to get out within one month, which prompted a letter from a reader of the Straits Times, Goh Jong Hou (see box on the right). Frankly, the LTA cannot but plead guilty, but of course being expert bureaucrats, they will find a way to reply without actually admitting to anything.

* * * * *

Some years ago, an architect told me, in respect of a project that we were on, that of all the government agencies we would have to deal with, the LTA would probably prove the most difficult. It was his opinion, and of many others in his profession too, he said, that they are the most arrogant and uncompromising of the agencies they routinely have to deal with.

The LTA has such a high opinion of themselves and their entitlement to grandeur, they proposed in 2002 to build a S$500 million new headquarters building, at a time when acres of office space were on the market begging for tenants. Singapore was then in the middle of a recession. See the sidebar story in When all we know of govt policy is a sample of one. Fortunately, the agency was savaged in Parliament and the plan scrapped.

* * * * *

Going further back, I recall all too well, the time when the LTA changed the ticket system for the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT). When was that? Around 2001?

Prior to that, we used a card with a magnetic strip, called the Transitlink card. Entering the station, at the turnstiles, we would insert it into a slot and it would come out via another slot. This would be the case for both stored-value cards and single-journey cards.

However, on exit, stored-value cards would come out likewise and be returned to the commuter, but single-journey cards would be retained by the turnstile, since its value would have been exhausted.

For years this had been the system and everybody got used to it.

Then the LTA wanted to migrate to a contactless card system, which is what we have today. For those holding stored-value EZLink cards, it makes little difference. You hold your card going in, and you keep your card coming out.

But for those who preferred single-journey tickets, there had to be a way for the MRT operator to get your contactless card back after use. Since contactless cards are never inserted into the turnstile, how would they get it back?

The LTA came up with a complicated system by which those who wanted a single-journey ticket would have to pay an extra $1 when they purchased their single-journey card. Then, on completing the journey, the commuter has to queue up again to return his card to the machine and get his $1 deposit back.

When commuters realised how inconvenient it would be, there was an outcry. Of course, the outcry only arose after the LTA had installed the new machines and people saw that the so-called new improved system made things worse for the single-journey ticket-holder (though it did make things faster for the stored-value ticket holder).

Many of those who wrote to the press said, why didn't the new system accept tokens for single-trips? The LTA said that would mean building in a parallel payment system and would raise costs. How much, they never explained.

In any case, it was obvious to me that it was too late. The new turnstiles had been imported and were being installed. The problem was, I reckoned, not truly one of cost, but that it never occurred to the LTA to consider using tokens. Throughout the design process, they simply expected people to adapt and conform to the engineering solution they liked, rather than design processes to serve people.

In May 2004, the new Bangkok MRT opened. For single-trips, you buy a token with the value appropriate for your trip. On exit, there is a special slot for tokens. You drop your token into this slot, the gate opens, you walk through and you're done.

Now, why was it too expensive for the LTA to adopt such a system when a developing country like Thailand didn't think it was too expensive for them?

Was it really cost or high-handedness? 

© Yawning Bread