Singapore — A member of the public commented that bus drivers in Singapore should attend basic English-speaking courses so that they can converse better with passengers.
The member of the public put up a post in a Facebook group named “Complaint Singapore” and recounted the encounter he had with the bus captain, with who he was unable to speak due to language differences.
According to his post, the netizen had been onboard an SBS transit bus. However, one of the tires went flat before the bus reached a bus stop. The bus captain also realized this fact after a few people including the netizen had boarded the bus.
The passengers then approached the bus driver to check if he would be passing them a ticket or if he would advise them to tap out. However, the bus captain was unable to converse using the English language. As none of the passengers on board was able to speak Mandarin, they were unsure of how to proceed with regard to the situation.
The netizen says that he understands that many foreigners are working as bus drivers and captains. While it is more than reasonable for jobs to hire Mandarin-speaking employees if the customer base is mostly Chinese, having someone incapable of speaking English provide services for the public such as manning a bus can cause a lot of inconvenience for everyone.
As such, the netizen suggests that bus companies send their employees for basic English-speaking courses to make sure that their employees are able to communicate with passengers.
Other netizens shared their views and suggestions in the comments section.
A few agreed with the poster, saying that it would be a good idea for bus captains to learn some basic English in order to facilitate communication with passengers.
Meanwhile, a few thought that by introducing basic English lessons, the prices of bus fares might actually increase for members of the public instead.
A netizen mentioned that this was quite a rare occurrence. Since a large proportion of people residing in Singapore are Chinese, a person who speaks Mandarin normally steps up to help translate for the rest and convey the bus captain’s messages.
You Zi Xuan is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG