{"id":59898,"date":"2026-06-11T17:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=59898"},"modified":"2026-06-11T17:12:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:12:00","slug":"mrt-station-exit-for-child-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=59898","title":{"rendered":"MRT station exit for child transfer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">On June 9, <a class=\"text-primary-brand no-underline hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZXb2pPCTPS\/\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram user @coach_danielsg<\/a>, 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\u2019s caption contained a letter to the Acting Transport Minister.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">According to Chow, he reasoned with the manager that:<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"my-lg md:my-xl\">\n<p><hr class=\"flex-1 border-grayscale-100 lg:hidden\"\/><span class=\"text-grayscale-400 text-14 leading-16 font-primary text-center lg:text-left p-sm\">Scroll to continue reading<\/span><\/p>\n<hr class=\"flex-1 border-grayscale-100 my-md\"\/>\n<hr class=\"my-md border-grayscale-100\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<ul class=\"font-secondary list-outside list-disc pl-lg pt-md text-grayscale-800 lg:pl-xl\">\n<li>Babies travel on the MRT for free<\/li>\n<li>Cost of living is already high<\/li>\n<li>Four staff members \u201csitting and giggling inside the control room, not even doing any serious work\u201d<\/li>\n<li>It was about 8am on a Saturday, and there were hardly any commuters at the station<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">However, the station manager explained that it was \u201cfor security\u201d and that he was just doing his job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Noting that SMRT had come under the spotlight recently, likely referencing an <a class=\"text-primary-brand no-underline hover:underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stomp.sg\/trending-now\/power-washing-artist-flooded-support-business-inquiries-after-smrt-removes-work-mountbatten?ref=inline-article-9188652\" target=\"_blank\" data-discover=\"true\" rel=\"noopener\">incident involving a power washer artist<\/a>, Chow took the opportunity to ask the Acting Transport Minister whether there was a rule requiring him to tap out and in again, and if so, whether it could be removed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">He added: \u201cDoes Singapore really want to promote families and raise TFR? If yes, can SMRT come on board to create that future?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">In addition to writing to the Acting Transport Minister, Chow also addressed Minister for Education Desmond Lee and Minister of State Jasmin Lau in a comment, asking if the ministry could relook the education system to encourage critical thinking to raise a workforce that questions orders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">He also addresses Minister in the Prime Minister\u2019s Office Indranee Rajah, chair of the Marriage &amp; Parenthood Reset workgroup, in a comment, saying: \u201cDear Madam @indraneerajah I found another reason that might be lowering TFR in Singapore.Hope we can remove one more barrier to raising kids and cost of living in SG.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"lg:text-28 lg:leading-33.6px pt-md font-primary text-24 font-bold leading-1.2\">SMRT says they\u2019ve reached out to parent<\/h2>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">In response to Stomp\u2019s queries, an SMRT spokesperson said the transport operator has reached out to Chow to engage him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">\u201cWe have also spoken with our staff on circumstances when some discretion can be exercised \u2014 as the majority of our station staff did in this case,\u201d said the representative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">The spokesperson also urge parents or caregivers with infants or young children who require assistance to approach staff at the Pasenger Service Centre. They may also apply for a concession card at SimplyGo ticket offices for their child, as long as they are:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"font-secondary list-outside list-disc pl-lg pt-md text-grayscale-800 lg:pl-xl\">\n<li>Between 0.9m and 1.2m tall<\/li>\n<li>Below seven years old<\/li>\n<li>Not studying in a primary school yet<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Stomp has reached out to Chow for more details<\/p>\n<hr class=\"bg-primary-100 h-px border-0 mt-lg md:mt-xxl\"\/>\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-xl rounded-xl border border-primary-100 mt-lg md:mt-xxl\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stomp.sg\/assets\/stomp-comment-COLiWNMD.png\" alt=\"Stomp Comment\" class=\"absolute -mt-lg -ml-xs w-[203px] md:w-[255px]\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Have something to say? Join in!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pt-lg md:pt-xxl\">\n<p class=\"text-18 leading-1.8 font-grayscale-800 font-semibold\">Explore more on these topics<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"py-lg\">\n<p class=\"inline items-center text-18 font-semibold text-black leading-1.2 text-grayscale-800\">See something interesting?<!-- --> <a class=\"inline-flex items-center gap-x-xs text-primary-brand\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stomp.sg\/contribute\" target=\"_blank\" data-discover=\"true\">Contribute<\/a> <!-- -->your story to us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-md\"><span class=\"font-primary text-18 font-semibold leading-1.2 text-black\">Get more of Stomp&#8217;s latest updates by following us on:<\/span><\/div>\n<hr class=\"bg-primary-100 h-px border-0 my-lg md:my-xxl\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stomp.sg\/trending-now\/man-says-he-must-exit-mrt-station-hand-child-mother-law-asks-acting-transport-minister-if-rule\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}