Singapore Expats

Mi Amigo wrote:...

what everybody assumes is that everybody has data enabled phones

Like moi, my 'own' phone is minus Data .. so the SMS service still rules

Fair enough, although I always have trouble remembering the numbers and format to use for that SMS stuff. e.g. Bus number <space> inside leg measurement <space> date of next annular eclipse <space> .... I have the 'Cabbie' app, which basically just sends a preformatted SMS message to Comfort Taxi for me. So I'm becoming increasingly lazy and dependent on my 'personal data assistant' as we used to call them. A sign of the times (and my advancing years) - whereas in the olden days I could remember many phone numbers, etc., now I sometimes have trouble even remembering my own one, coz it's in the memory, innit.

Apparently there are two things that fade away with age; one of them is memory and the other one is, er....

ecureilx wrote:

Mi Amigo wrote:...

what everybody assumes is that everybody has data enabled phones

Like moi, my 'own' phone is minus Data .. so the SMS service still rules

Dude, data allowance on prepaid is more than enough for checking transport data and maps.

nakatago wrote:

ecureilx wrote:

Mi Amigo wrote:...

what everybody assumes is that everybody has data enabled phones

Like moi, my 'own' phone is minus Data .. so the SMS service still rules

Dude, data allowance on prepaid is more than enough for checking transport data and maps.

Well, I killed data totally, since it had a habit to doing it's own downloads, updates, auto connections, and more ..

ecureilx wrote:

nakatago wrote:

ecureilx wrote: what everybody assumes is that everybody has data enabled phones

Like moi, my 'own' phone is minus Data .. so the SMS service still rules

Dude, data allowance on prepaid is more than enough for checking transport data and maps.

Well, I killed data totally, since it had a habit to doing it's own downloads, updates, auto connections, and more ..

Uh, you can turn those things off...and on quite easily if you need them, even selectively. Look for "Android power control widgets."

nakatago wrote:Uh, you can turn those things off...and on quite easily if you need them, even selectively. Look for "Android power control widgets."

alas my "other" nokia N97 mini is not so intelligent .. unlike my Samsung ACE !!!

ecureilx wrote:

nakatago wrote:Uh, you can turn those things off...and on quite easily if you need them, even selectively. Look for "Android power control widgets."

alas my "other" nokia N97 mini is not so intelligent .. unlike my Samsung ACE !!!

there is google maps for symbian: http://www.google.com/mobile/maps/
Scroll to the bottom of the page for download links.

Transit directions supported.

You can still set symbian to turn off some of the updates and just connect to data on-demand, e.g. looking at maps.

ecureilx wrote:

sundaymorningstaple wrote:I live in the north-east and work in the west. I use two buses & the MRT each way 6 days a week. ... Nice chunk of vacation change left over now.

+1

as poodlek says, The key is finding out the shortest route, or which is better ..

like I mentioned before .. until I found out about bus 700 and 190, I used to take an hour plus by going around the world, by Train, from Orchard to Bkt Panjang .. when I found out that it is just about 20 to 25 minutes by Bus, Orchard to Bkt Panjang, by BUS, I became hooked. And the frequent wait and standing travel to home was still worth vs the 1 hour plus spent in the train ..

And Sengkang to Tampines, well, try taking Train .. about 1 hour plus ?

Try bus 27, about 20 mins max ... and once it leaves Sengkang, it is Expressway all the way till Tampines ..

So, MRT is NOT ALWAYS the best option ..


Oh, when I used to work in Kallang, and live in Yishun, one too many of my colleagues used to tell me MRT IS EXPENSIVE LOR .. well, I never listened to them, as train was convenient, but about 40 cents saving for Bus vs train .. X 2 times a day X 22 working days .. = that is a 35.20 $ saving a month !!!!!!!!!! multiply that by the 2 years I was there .. oh gosh ..

I lived at bt panjang as well and most of the time, I would travel by bus to most of the locations (north, south, east, west) despite the fact that the LRT station is very near my block. If you're interested to know the shortest route to travel to various locations or anything related to bt panjang, you could ask me. I've lived there practically all my life and will try to answer your qns to the best of my knowledge.

Anyway, back to the topic. Whenever I need to travel to somewhere unfamiliar, I would conduct some research first at home via internet. Here's what I'll usually do:
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2) from the map, click on the nearest bus-stop icon to display what buses goes there
3) Lastly, if the buses that goes to your destination also pass by your neighbourhood, then you're lucky. If not, you'll have to probably look for ways of transiting via bus or train. I'll usually goes to smrt or tibs website and look for the route info on the bus number (from 2 above) and see whether the bus pass by any train station or road or building where I know the direction.

Generally, smrt covers mainly the west/north-west area of sg and tibs covers mainly east and north area of sg. As for central/city area, both smrt and tibs have buses that goes there. If you need to travel from a smrt covered area to tibs covered area (ie, west to east), you'll probably need to transit at city area. But sometimes, if you're lucky, your area might have a long distance bus that travel from east to west or vi versa.

Would very much prefer taking the bus over train. These days, trains are always stopping in the middle of their tracks. Its gets really pissing especially when you're late for work. Just saying. Cheers