Singapore's Best Bus Driver

When I first came through Singapore in the early 1980's there were still a few of the old garrulous drivers around.  If one was well dressed, or an Ang Mo, their expectation was that you would take a cab and leave their bus to the "common folk".

Fortunately this attitude is long gone.  My regular bus is the 111 (or 'triple one' as it is known to the locals) and we are blessed with older drivers who are both courteous and friendly.

Some of the newer Indian drivers seem to have major problems coordinating the brake and the clutch which results in a very jerky journey.  This is reminiscent of my passenger experiences in Calcutta which I had hoped never to repeat.

The older Singaporean drivers have none of these problems and they proceed with a commendable calmness.

The best of the lot is the Malay bus captain (driver) pictured.  His first name begins with "S" but I did not  catch his full name.

He is unfailingly good humoured and enjoys nothing more than to have his jovial greeting reciprocated.  We first met each other when I caught the bus from Penang Road in 2006.  Now I go the other way on the same bus from Queenstown, so we still see quite a lot of each other.

This man deserves a public service medal for his deportment and customer service.  I hope someone reading this post will recommend him and I shall miss his beaming presence when I return to New Zealand in July.

It is this sort of human experience that makes living here worthwhile.