Reporting from Shenzhen: How China stimulates the property market
October 4, 2024
I was in Hong Kong last week. To find out why Hong Kong people flocked to Shenzhen on weekends, I decided to cross the border for a personal experience.
Singapore’s infamous train fault
There is a Chinese saying that “Good things aren’t heard outside the house. Bad things spread a thousand miles. During this trip, whoever I met, the first thing they mentioned was “Singapore’s trains are not working. Don’t go back. Stay for a few more days.”
I do stay in the west. To support the government’s car-lite policy, national climate target and Singapore Green Plan 2030, I have traded in my car for two SimplyGo cards.
Surprisingly, my friends and family in Hong Kong believed that the Singapore government had just struck the jackpot. In the SAR, the MTR Corporation has to pay a heavy fine for any train disruption lasting 31 minutes or more.
In 2019, MTR was slapped with a total of HK$35 million (S$6 million) penalty for two service breakdowns. With last month’s faulty trains in Circle Line, North-South Line and a 6-day downtime for East-West Line, Singapore government could easily pocket tens of millions fines from SMRT. Huat ah!
To show their apology, after service resumed, Hong Kong’s MTR offered 50 percent discount for adult tickets for two weeks. After all, no senior government official need to take public... read more