A parent of a toddler, who was apparently made to tap out of an MRT station to hand his child to his mother-in-law, has written an open letter to Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow asking if this is necessary.
On June 9, Instagram user @coach_danielsg, whose real name is Daniel Chow, posted a video of himself passing his child and stroller over a barrier separating the paid and unpaid areas of an MRT station, presumably to his mother-in-law. The post’s caption contained a letter to the Acting Transport Minister.
In the post, Chow explained that both he and his wife have to work on one Saturday each month. To hand over caregiving duties to his mother-in-law, Chow would usually ask MRT staff to open a side exit so he could pass his toddler and stroller to her outside the paid area.
Chow said that while station staff have been helpful and allowed his child through, he claimed that the station manager would insist he tap his card to exit, hand his child to his mother-in-law, and tap back in, incurring an additional $2 in fare.
According to Chow, he reasoned with the manager that:
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- Babies travel on the MRT for free
- Cost of living is already high
- Four staff members “sitting and giggling inside the control room, not even doing any serious work”
- It was about 8am on a Saturday, and there were hardly any commuters at the station
However, the station manager explained that it was “for security” and that he was just doing his job.
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