Singapore dad appeals to transport minister after MRT gate dispute involving toddler

SINGAPORE: A young father in Singapore penned an open letter over social media to Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow to appeal for consideration for other parents like himself and his wife, who need help in the matter.

Daniel Chow, 33, posted on Facebook on June 9 that he and his wife have to work on Saturday once a month. Because they have a young child, they have Mr Chow’s mother-in-law care for the toddler while they work, handing them over at the MRT station.

He used to ask an SMRT staff member to open the side gate so that he could pass the child and their stroller to his mother-in-law, and they would oblige him and allow him to do so. Otherwise, he’d need to exit the paid area and then spend another S$2 to tap back in.

On one Saturday morning in March, however, the station manager said no, saying it was for security reasons, adding that he was just doing his job.

Mr Chow, a fitness specialist for the elderly, said that when this happened, there was hardly anyone at the MRT station since it was only around 8:00 am, and that there were four SMRT staff who were merely “sitting and giggling inside the control room, not even doing any serious work.”

Since the incident, the young father no longer uses the gantry to exit in order to hand his child to his mother-in-law, choosing instead to pass the toddler and the stroller over the glass barrier.

He asked Mr Siow if it was really necessary for him to tap in and tap out again just to hand his young child over, given the high living costs in Singapore.

“Is there really such a rule that parents need to tap out to pass our babies to our parents and then waste S$2 tapping back in? If yes, can we please remove it?

Does Singapore really want to promote families and raise TFR? If yes, can SMRT come on board to create that future?” he asked in his post.

FB screengrab/ Daniel Chow

Aside from addressing the acting Transport Minister, he also tagged Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, who heads the Marriage & Parenthood Reset workgroup, in a comment. He wrote, “Dear Madam @indraneerajah I found another reason that might be lowering TFR in Singapore. Hope we can remove one more barrier to raising kids and the cost of living in SG.”

SMRT has since responded to media outlets concerning the issue, saying that the staff have been spoken to about circumstances when discretion can be exercised.

The Land Transport Authority has also responded to the matter in a June 12 (Friday) Facebook post. 

“Our public transport workers have been assisting families by applying the rules with kindness most of the time and opening the fare gate to facilitate such transfers. There is also an existing solution that can help – children who qualify for free travel can apply for a child concession card which allows them to tap in and out easily, for free.” /TISG

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