Raffles Girls' Primary
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hi Anon, thanks for helping, I have also written to P last week, but waiting for bus company as they will do their usual dragging the feet to do things hoping you will forget or get used to it
I suggest if we gather enough parents, we all go see the P, the MPs, and even MOE, then they will take issue seriously and get someone responsible to fix the problem,
we really need to so this for the benefit of not just students in RGPS but thousands of others in Singapore taking sch bus to sch.
Hope more will come forward n join us. -
Tania,
We are not targeting the bus driver. They have their maintenance as well.
If govt. can give them subsidy in form of lower rental/waiver of COE/topping up the difference bet. international school bus fee and local etc… then their cost will come down and they do not have to ferry the office worker and will thus reduce the driver’s frustration to shuttle and rush? Afterall, after 9.00am; the drivers are free till the next pick up for afternoon session. As such; they have their breaks as well. Compare to Japan where drivers takes pride in their Job; the attitude is very much different.
I know of bus driver who only ferry international student and lives comfortably.
Also the bus company; they get paid during the March, June, Sep, Nov and Dec holiday even if they do not have to ferry the student. In that sense; the bus driver should be able to compromise a wee bit. Some Tuition teacher and piano teacher only get paid for services. Not all students who study in RGPS comes from priviledge background who can afford living at Hillcrest areas. Some got posted due to GEP etc… Perhaps you are not aware that some of the bus driver attitude sucks big time. They are just some people who does not respond to kindness, no? -
Freesia:
My girl has taken the sch bus before and i dun like his service... . And he scolded my girl for being late for just a few minutes when she took the CCA bus and he 'threatened' her that he will not to send her home the next time round. Hence, i do agree that their service is lousy.Tania,
We are not targeting the bus driver. They have their maintenance as well.
If govt. can give them subsidy in form of lower rental/waiver of COE/topping up the difference bet. international school bus fee and local etc.. then their cost will come down and they do not have to ferry the office worker and will thus reduce the driver's frustration to shuttle and rush? Afterall, after 9.00am; the drivers are free till the next pick up for afternoon session. As such; they have their breaks as well. Compare to Japan where drivers takes pride in their Job; the attitude is very much different.
I know of bus driver who only ferry international student and lives comfortably.
Also the bus company; they get paid during the March, June, Sep, Nov and Dec holiday even if they do not have to ferry the student. In that sense; the bus driver should be able to compromise a wee bit. Some Tuition teacher and piano teacher only get paid for services. Not all students who study in RGPS comes from priviledge background who can afford living at Hillcrest areas. Some got posted due to GEP etc..... Perhaps you are not aware that some of the bus driver attitude sucks big time. They are just some people who does not respond to kindness, no?
We are not staying near the school but distance wise is ok for us cos it takes abt 15 mins to get her school. The bottom line is the parents chose the sch with their eyes opened wrt to the distance from home to sch esp those enter RGPS from P1.
Those who enter RGPS at P4 to take the ge programme, i can understand their problem cos they only have 9 schools to choose from.
It is easy to blame others for the traffic jam etc but the long distance from home to school is really the issue.
Japan is a very special country, the people there are very proud of their job and is just in their blood. It is not possible to compare them against the bus driver.
Lastly, the Govt is not a charity organisation and if they start helping the bus drivers, they open up a flood gate and all the hawkers, etc will be running to the Govt for help. -
Bus drivers wake up at what time? Nobody seems to care.
Bus drivers/companies make arrangements to ferry workers so as to keep bus fare down and shouldn’t we appreciate it? They maximize resources by using the same buses to fetch workers after making the school trips, optimize use of resources and shouldn’t we encourage it? We want government to subsidize us to pay bus fare so they don’t have to fetch factory workers? So who fetch factory workers? Put more buses on the road and cause more pollution and congestion? Government subsidize this and that and where does the money come from? Cannot get the money from raising tax so cut salary of everyone in the government including civil servants?
When we planned to put our daughters in RGPS have we considered the distance between school and home? Don’t we already know how the school transport system work at the time of the enrollment? Or do we expect the system to tweak to suit our individual needs once we secured a place in the school?
I can go on and on but sometimes, I feel that we, as parents, must do something at our ends and shouldn’t just hope for other parties to fix thing for us. Why not get your daughter to sleep early, let’s say, 9 p.m. so that even if she has to wake up at 5 a.m., she still has 8 hours of sleep? -
I think it is fair to compare apple to apple.
Pride in their job does not run in the blood. It is cultivated and mindset.
Japan is not a special country. Every countries has it’s pros and cons.
I agree that govt is not a charity organisation. For the loss of income from COE/lesser profit from bus rental of registered school Student bus; it is not charity; they just received less and also they can contain to specific area pick instead of a huge bus picking from Woodlands, Yishun, AngMo Kio and Thomson then to RGPS thus more jams and hiccups along the way. And it shld restrict to Primary school only. Because these are young kids and need enough rest. The benefit from enough sleep outweighs the government economic oppportunity cost of not collecting the COE. Also, 6.30am hardly traffic jams. My friends drive from Yishun and as far as Woodlands to RGPS; rarely jams. If the govt has a will there is a way. It just managing their set of priorities.
We are just clarifying that we are not targeting the Bus Driver as per you have mentioned in your earlier post.
I am positive that the parents here are trying to fine tune a problem they encountered and air a little of their grievances. -
HVR:
Well said. I like yr post. :hi5:Bus drivers wake up at what time? Nobody seems to care.
Bus drivers/companies make arrangements to ferry workers so as to keep bus fare down and shouldn't we appreciate it? They maximize resources by using the same buses to fetch workers after making the school trips, optimize use of resources and shouldn't we encourage it? We want government to subsidize us to pay bus fare so they don't have to fetch factory workers? So who fetch factory workers? Put more buses on the road and cause more pollution and congestion? Government subsidize this and that and where does the money come from? Cannot get the money from raising tax so cut salary of everyone in the government including civil servants?
When we planned to put our daughters in RGPS have we considered the distance between school and home? Don't we already know how the school transport system work at the time of the enrollment? Or do we expect the system to tweak to suit our individual needs once we secured a place in the school?
I can go on and on but sometimes, I feel that we, as parents, must do something at our ends and shouldn't just hope for other parties to fix thing for us. Why not get your daughter to sleep early, let's say, 9 p.m. so that even if she has to wake up at 5 a.m., she still has 8 hours of sleep? -
Hi HVR, agree that we should let our children rest enough, that is the whole point of the entire discussion, and the purpose of so much talk is to gather people of the same interest, people who are parents to do something about it.
I intend to do something but I must also show that there is enough of us so that the thing will work.
The IS about time management, not being wasted on the road, and having a more normal life of waking when the sun rises, not way before it.
I reserve to comment about comparing the time students have to wake up and that of the bus driver.
Keeping cost down is one thing, but what is the value of the time of your children? All the money and riches in the world cannot buy time, especially if the time can be used to spending it with children, parents, not on a school bus. -
My suggestion was if there is subsidy like no COE or reduced rental etc.
Workers will have workers bus and school bus can then be smaller.
I understand that it is not the bus driver that is making the money; it is the transport company as they take a cut too. So, the poor bus driver has to pay higher loan if COE is included or if he leases a bus her has to pay rental, give a cut to transport company, maintain the bus etc. As such, we are not targeting the bus driver.
I did what Tania said and relocated somewhere near the school. If i expected the govt then I will still be complaining. These are just my ideas, suggestions or wishes to lighten the load of bus driver at the same time they can still make enough.
I had a chance to chat with the RGPS bus driver and assistant a few times and so I know their pain. They told me if ferrying the children is enough there would rather just stick to ferrying school children. Because not enough to cover and thus to ferry workers; not to reduce our cost. If increase too high a price transport association also does not allow.
The parents here are fine tuning their problem and brainstorming for ideas and air their grievances and not so much of not sparing a thought for the bus driver.
As for sleeping early; it is a challenge for working mum. For working class like us; we can only reach home 7pm as you know these days MRT is also quite jammed packed. And this is also includes short lunches, no coffee breaks so that you can go back on time. I can only get to sit down with my daughter from 8pm till 10pm. Then, we may chit chat about our day. As such, as a working mum, we also do not have much social life if we were to be a super responsible mum; unless god has given us a motivated and talented child… -
Freesia - LIKE click!
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A dated MP's parliamentary reply to a later start for schools.
http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/parliamentary-replies/2010/05/later-start-time-for-single-se.php
There's more flexibility for a later start when the school goes into single session. Currently, some primary schools with single session implemented have rescheduled their starting time to 8am. Ultimate decision lies with the school committee. My daughter will be in PM session for the next two years but hoping things will improve in time. For me it's about having a more godly hour to start the the schoolday as enjoyed by pupils from international schools. An invaluable time for families.
The scheduled renovations to the Hillcrest campus is also a great opportunity to redesign the premises to ease traffic flow. An important factor considering the higher volume of pupils in single session.
More articles on this topic.
http://forums.vr-zone.com/newsroom/999253-later-start-the-day-benefits-students-principal.html
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