Bus Captain

I’m a bus captain. I’ve worked here…well I still don’t count as someone who has worked here too long la. About four or five years la. Is the job good? Well actually…I’m just here on a work permit. Before this I worked in Malaysia. Yes, every day it’s a back-and-forth commute. I personally feel that this is a job I’m extremely satisfied with. It’s also not really that difficult.  I belong to what you would call the short-distance routes, so it’s still pretty decent.

No, I don’t have to come in the morning. I only start work in the afternoons. If outside people came to look at us, they would think it’s pretty good. Actually, if you want to put it crudely hor, we come and go back with our motorbikes, we are actually risking our lives, okay? The work here is hard. You see, when I come over, it’s noon. When I go back, sometimes the traffic jam at the Causeway is so bad that I’ll only reach home at two or three. Yes, that’s two or three in the morning.

Yeah, the Causeway jams until so late in the night. Actually, in the past two or three years, it wasn’t so bad…but now almost every night there will be a jam. It’s to do with politics la. Relations between Singapore and Malaysia. All the grievances, they all come out here lor. You just go and take a look at the Woodlands checkpoint at 10pm, 10.30pm la. It’s a world-class spectacle alright! A traffic jam of motorbikes that can stretch to maybe three kilometres, imagine that. To cross the customs hor, sometimes you need two hours. When it comes to about 10.30pm, things get a little smoother, but then after that – past 11pm – then the jam starts all over again. It’s like that lor. Especially on Fridays. Friday nights are the most terrifying.

And then when you get back at that kind of time, you have to be alert too, in case you get robbed. There was a period of time, a lot of my Malaysian colleagues were getting robbed. Yeah, on their way home after work. There are other things too, when you’re so tired. You ride a motorbike so late at night, you fall asleep, and the next thing you know you collide with another vehicle. Then accident, then die. All these things have happened, it’s just that nobody talks about it. Yeah, so there’s danger even after you’re finished with work! I travel back and forth like this every day lor. There’s no choice la. If I could avoid this, I wouldn’t want to do it this way too, right?

Hmmm why I chose this job? It’s the closest there is already. Work in Malaysia? (long pause) Of course, of course I’ve considered it. I used to work in Malaysia. That time, everything was still good, I could still feed my whole family with what I’ve earned. Now the economy… it’s just so bad that you can’t do that anymore la, hor. So I can’t feed my family working in Malaysia la, no choice. That’s why I ended up here in Singapore lor. I got to know about this job from the papers! I was thinking, drive a bus? I’ve never driven a bus before leh. Wonder how it feels like. Let me try it out la? And then after I’d tried it out, I was like, hey, it’s not bad! And then the salary – it’s also okay, quite okay ah. So that’s how I got into this job lor.

Last time my job ah. I used to be… er…you know those photocopiers?  Those printer, computer, okay? Yeah, I was a technician for those things. Yah lor, it’s a very different job hor? Because, speaking honestly, that job was simply too frustrating and stressful la. And you know I wasn’t just a technician, I was also an ah…a supervisor like that, you know? I had to manage my subordinates, I had to arrange their schedules. The stress I faced, waaaah, it was until I couldn’t sleep ah. Now, with this job, oh I sleep so well! (laughs) Yeah la, I go home late now too la, but I’m a night owl ma, so it isn’t so bad. I go to bed at 4, and then sleep till noon lor.

Actually driving buses, it isn’t such a stressful job at all. It’s still okay la. Our greatest stress actually comes from (pause) – management. Not the passengers. Even if we are late, as long as we explain ourselves, most times the passengers will accept our explanations. In the end, it comes down to the individual la. I’ve done this job for four years, and I’ve seen a lot of things. From my first year at work here, hor, until now, my fourth year, nobody has ever complained about me. What does this mean? See what you’re like as an individual la. Your attitude. I personally feel local passengers are very reasonable. If you explain, they will accept. At most just a few passengers la, they will complain. But we also have to understand them. Imagine if you’re one person just waiting for half an hour and there’s no bus – you’d be so pissed off too, right? (chuckles) So we try to be understanding too la. When they board and say a few things, we just go oh, so sorry, and then carry on driving lor. Yes, that’s right, it’s not like anybody wanted this to happen mah. So like I said, it comes down to the individual, and their communication with passengers la.

I still remember hor, there was one year – that time was a morning shift, so there were a lot of aunties and uncles taking the bus to go to work, hor. Over time, you know, we could recognise each other already liao. Those aunties and uncles hor, that time I was still pulling a morning shift, they specially pack breakfast for me to eat.

The thing that left me the most touched ah…so there were three aunties, when I started working the afternoon shift. That time, it was the Chinese Lunar New Year. It was chu san or chu si, the third or fourth day of the Lunar New Year, so everyone’s back at work already. When they finished work, they specially waited until my bus arrived – then, after getting onto the bus, they gave me a red packet. And then still said ‘thank you’.  “Waaaahhh,” I said, “auntie, I’m really very touched!” Although there wasn’t much money in the red packet, that gesture…I was really very moved. Even until now as I say it, I’m still very moved.

If you must know, there’s a lot of focus needed when we are driving. You just slip up one moment – and there you go. So you know why sometimes hor, you see all these bus accidents ah, why are there so many? This is the reason. Tired, yes.  Because, if you think about it, you’re driving for two hours at one go, and then the whole time, your mental focus needs to be very intense. Especially during peak periods. Old people, young kids, hor. Even if it’s not a pedestrian crossing hor, they assume that you’ve seen them, so they just cross, just like that. A lot of times, that’s how accidents happen. I’ve had a lot of close shaves myself. Ah, that’s just how things are. So you see, that’s why it can be very tiring to drive for so long (laughs).

Yeah, we have to undergo training of course. We have this training school. When you’re there, you have to sit for an exam, and then only when LTA gives you a pass, then you can start driving. You need at least two months of training. Yeah, two months and then you can be a bus captain. But only after you pass the exams, then you can come out and drive.

So now…it’s just that I can’t spend as much time with my family lah. Yeah, I do feel a bit guilty for that. I have four kids. Two of them are in college, one is in secondary school, one is in primary school. Johor Bahru lor, the college in JB. No, no I don’t stay outside the city, I stay in JB town area there.  But so far, my kids also understand la. They are more mature already la. They know that I can’t help it too. But in the past hor, I’d go to the pasar every day, and I’d bring my kids along. Buy groceries, and teach them how to recognise the fish, the vegetables – all these things, I taught them. You see, last time ah, I really liked to cook. So…yes, when they were growing up, I did spend quite some time with them. Yeah, it’s very important, when they are young. It’s the most important time.

This here ah? No la, I didn’t cook it. My wife cooked this, she says it’s for me to eat a little healthier. This here, I call it my aiqingcan, my ‘Meals of Love’! She cooked and packed it for me. [shows lunch box] You want to take a look? This is my lunch hor, and over here – ah, this is my dinner, for later. Yeah, so she will cook and pack my meals for me every day. That’s why I say it’s my good luck, I married such a good and caring wife.

Look at the others here, they tapao their food from outside every day, and it’s so oily. They buy it from outside. Yeah, of course you can buy it from the canteens nearby, but there’s no time, you know. If you come back late, you only have twenty minutes, where are you going to have time to go out and buy the food?

The bus drivers here…well, I think I can get along quite well with them. As a person, I’m quite easy-going la. Every day I’ll brew a pot of tea, and place it here. You all want to drink tea, just grab a cup. My reason is…you know, I see so many of these bus captains all the time, they’ll always drive until they are so tired. When they are tired, they will drink Red Bull, all those energy boosters, it’s not good for the body la. I feel that if you drink all these Chinese teas, it’s a lot better. So, every day I’ll brew a pot. You don’t have to pay for the tea leaves, it’s my contribution. It doesn’t come up to much anyway.

Yes, that’s right, come 5pm, I’ll start all over again. Back to work lor. Okay, today it’s until 6.49pm. Yah lor, it’s right down to the minute. That’s how the system is. Every minute must be accounted for. But it can’t be helped sometimes, you know? When road conditions are bad, or when there’s a jam. We don’t purposely want to be late also ma. Like you see, this morning, Ayer Rajah Expressway, there was another accident again, who would have wanted this, you know? That’s why they are called accidents mah, right or not?

So…you know, all these problems, management knows about them, it’s not like they are unaware. They just pretend they don’t know about it. The problems that bus captains face, hor…you see, even if I tapao my food hor, by the time I eat it, everything’s cold already. Even to warm it up, that takes time, you know. So all the food we eat, it’s already cold. Cold, just eat lor. That’s why some of us, eat until we have stomach problems lor, that’s how it happens. So my hope simply is that they could improve on this point. Rest times, break times, it’s okay if we miss them you know. The most important is our lunch time. Half an hour? It’s not definite. Sometimes they give you twenty minutes, hor, twenty-five minutes. But then, who knows? The next break after that is ten minutes, eight minutes, and then you’re running again. Yeah, it’s like being in the army, that’s right! To the minute, go go go! That’s just how it is here.

No, there isn’t management here at the terminal, but there’s a telephone. Which is to say, we are still under control lor. Under telephone control lor. On the buses, there’s also a line, if they need to say a few words to us. But this place, there isn’t anyone bossing us around la, it’s just a place for us to rest, yeah. This is just a small little terminal. There are fewer buses here. It’s definitely more relaxed here, because the people here are also more easy-going la. They aren’t so anxious. At bigger terminals, they have management there.

Here, we have a supervisor. This supervisor, he’s really easy-going. It’s because he was once a bus captain too, so he understands. It’s not like management over there, you know. Management completely don’t know where our problems lie. That’s why I don’t like to work at the big interchanges. Before this I was driving the Bus 62 route first, before I was assigned to Bus 59. Yeah, so they would transfer us once in awhile. After a period of time hor, you will have quite some experience, then they will give you a fixed route to drive.

I’ve driven this route for…nearly a year now. Almost a year. No, they won’t change me already. I’ve reached the point where I’m confirmed in this route liao. So for all the routes hor, after you’ve been driving for eight or nine months, the company will arrange for you, they’ll ask you what route do you want to drive. Yeah, I chose to come here. Why? Because I’ve always believed in the saying “tian gao huang di yuan” (chuckles). That means if you’re far away, the emperor can’t see you (laughs).

Actually ah, another problem that we face here…well, a few bus captains, including me, we smoke. And in Singapore…yeah, the cost is one thing, but there aren’t even many places you can smoke. You should give us a place to smoke, at least. No such thing. Here? Well, actually you’re not allowed to smoke here. If we wanted to take a smoke legally, wow, do you know how far we actually have to walk? If they catch you smoking, they’ll cut your bonus, it’ll be on your record.

You know ah, after I finish driving one cycle ah, it’s okay if I don’t eat, but I need at least to have a smoke. Because if I don’t smoke, I’ll be very drowsy, and it’s very difficult to concentrate. Even half a stick will do, because then at least I have some energy, some focus. So sometimes ah, this supervisor of ours, even when we’re running late, he’ll give us a few minutes to smoke. Upstairs, the management, they’ll say, hey, time’s up, you must go immediately! Yeah, they’ll scold you! It doesn’t matter if I have a full bladder; I really need to pee ah. But our supervisor will help us to hold them off for a while, so we have a few minutes. So, like I’ve said: management. A supervisor who’s been a bus captain before, and a supervisor who’s never been a bus captain – the difference is very clear in how they treat you.  

But I have to say, towards this company , I really like it a lot. I’m really satisfied. I’m still willing to work very hard for this company. But the management…So many of these accidents ah, too many of these accidents are happening. It’s not because we are bad bus captains, or that we are lazy, okay? We are professional. We are bus captains hor, we are trained to a very high standard. All of us who graduate from the school, it means there is absolutely no problem with our skills. If we had problems, we wouldn’t even have made it past the training at all. It’s really more to do with the kind of conditions, the problems we face, that we endure. It’s only when we really cannot take it anymore, that’s when the problems come out, the mistakes start happening.

It’s really a contradiction. The company stresses that safety comes first, hor, but then over here, what does the management demand of us? Punctuality. This is a conflict la. They keep stressing us. The first shift I go, no problem. The second round, I start to have problems. By the third shift, you still rush me like that, it’s very difficult la. So that’s why, a lot of the new ones hor, just come in, just come out from their training, those bus captains hor – accident. This is why. So you know, you hear in the news, someone got killed ah, all those accidents – this is also a problem of the management, not just the drivers themselves. Their internal organisation isn’t even coherent, then they put all this pressure on us, put all the blame on us. They don’t want to accept any responsibility. All these accidents where the buses knock people down – who would want to knock anybody down?

That time when I had an accident, it was also because of this pressure to meet the timing lor. That was when I’d just arrived. So back then ah, I was really nervous about these things. Because I was running late already, you see. It was at night, I wanted to go back already, I was so hungry. Because they had given me 28 minutes to eat, and I was already running late by 14 minutes. Once we go into the bus park, we still have to line up to park the vehicle, still have to wait, by the time all this was done I would be left with only 5 or 6 minutes…

“Go lor. Go!” That’s what the management there said to me. “Time’s up, go, go, go!”

Yeah, “go” until I had my first accident.

That was my only accident. After that, I slowly got more experienced. Don’t need to stick to the schedules so tightly, just running and running, non-stop. Now – late ah? Okay lor, at most just don’t rest, just go on lor. That’s how we cope with things here. Yeah, so don’t need to be so panicky.

Sometimes hor three, four rounds, I’m just going and going, even though I really need to pee, I just hold it in and keep going, just keep going. Until I finish my fourth round hor, okay break la, got five or six minutes, okay quickly go for a piss and a smoke. Rice ah? No need to eat already la. Eat what? No need to eat la. So for those of us that work in this job, most times la, always have one illness: that’s stomach pains. All of us have stomach problems.  

There was once I was driving this route, then never eat. Stomach pain lor, until it flared up, and I had to be warded in NUH. Pain until I couldn’t drive. Pain until my hands and legs were trembling. That was last year. No la, it wasn’t so serious, I just stayed for one night in the hospital.

So you see, the higher levels, they’re way too high up, they won’t ever see such things. All our schedules, all the adjustments, it’s done by them, but they’ve no idea what we’re going through. They’ll say, this is your own problem. If other people can meet the timing, why can’t you do it? Once they use this question on you, there’s really not much you can say. You know that saying, if you have bitterness, just swallow it yourself? This type of hardship we just have to swallow lor, there’s nothing we can do. 

Singapore, 2017