Commuting woes..

I wonder how people do it. Daily commuting from Seremban to KL on KTM Komuter train. OK, well they may not have the choice. But the point is, my heart goes out to them. because, thanks to my dad, I had first hand experience yesterday.

My sister is back for her summer vacation. Her flight was due to arrive at nine yesterday morning. dad had his doctors appointment in KL at ten. so we agreed that my bro will get sister and I accompany dad to the hospital. Instead of driving in separate cars so I can head off to work after that, dad insisted we take one car and he’ll get the train back. what a brilliant idea. My father was clearly overestimating the trains. Don’t get me wrong. its just that my dad has Never been on a Komuter train before. with his frozen shoulders and all, I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the next week rubbing ointment over his muscle pain. we went in one car anyway. but i told my bro to meet us halfway, somewhere in Serdang or Sg Besi later to pick dad.

Unfortunately, our appointment got dragged on and bro was done in the airport before we could even see the doc. He was too tired from working all night and sister from her journey. So I asked them to go back and dad to drive back. I’ll get the train in the evening.

and the story begins..

I decided to leave office earlier to bit rush hour plus I had dinner plans with family. I got RN to pick me up at 5 and drop me at the Midvaley station (I hate the hassle in KL Sentral). Got there at quarter past 5. it wasn’t that crowded yet. Next train was due at 5.34pm. I got a seat on one of the benches. At 530, i decided to go stand by the platform (a bit of the kiasu blood-lar) when the announcement came. train delayed by 15 mins. thats it. no reasoning whatsoever. sighs and echos of ‘oh, not again!’ was in the air. i smiled to myself.

I was ok. Its my first time and 15 mins doesn't sound all that unreasonable. Plus i’m used to London tubes which are known for its fashionable delays at the worst timing. At least this is not caused by some dim-witted idiot who found pleasure in landing himself on the track. or I hope not. they never informed the cause anyway. and 15 mins is not bad when you are in an open air train station. Imagine being 70 feet under the ground. no proper ventilation or platform space. (?)

soon the 15 mins became 20 and another 15 and finally after a series of announcements and missing two ‘crowded to the doorstep’ trains, I managed to squeeze myself into a train at 6.35pm. Just about managed to grip a small portion of the bar (reminding myself to wash hands as soon as i get home). Narrow and crazily packed, the train was a giant furnace. The journey was hell. sweaty, stinky and stuffy. I was so close to passing out and thank God we reached Serdang station where the crowd eased a bit. I wouldn’t have fallen anyway. Not when a mere 10 degree tilt was impossible.

And this was one of the rare occasions I wished I didn’t have a handbag, let alone a big chunky one. Making sure no one was helping themselves to anything in it was a chore. Forget the wallet, i had my passport in it. the Admin Asst. returned earlier that afternoon after issuing Visa for my next travel. I’m not loosing another passport. (yet another tale from my specially acquired skill in loosing stuff). Best part is, I was on the phone with N all the while. from Midvaley station right up to Nilai station. Hanging on to the phone when it was so crammed was not easy. people were eyeing me in both disbelieve & disgust. who'd do that is a sardine packed train where you can't even breath normally? But it kept me from choking to death with the heat and natural ‘perfumes’ around. what the heck!

And then there is this attitude of the commuters. I’ve never before seen that many selfish, rude, discourteous,boorish bunch of cows, all at once. maybe this is just the normal 'kiasu' attitude we speak of all the time. Its one thing to be rude and bypass a queue. but not giving up your seat to a heavily pregnant woman in an extremely packed train is beyond that. Having someone from the back grab your shoulders and shoving you right onto the face of the person in front of you til your nose is less than an inch apart is CRAZY! all my time in London, no matter how crowded or stuffy it gets in the tubes, never once have I experienced or seen people physically pushing or using language to urge people to move in or make space. For all my countless whining over 'how i wish i was driving', it wasn't that bad after all.

I told S about my journey back last night. S is a friend who also commutes from sban-KL daily. she recently opted for driving after 5 years of public transport and is very glad. ‘oh, you haven’t seen the worst’ was her first reaction. One of her worst experience was getting to KL *Sentral at 6 and reaching Seremban at 12 midnight. 6 hours! so OK, maybe I am being too dramatic.

Driving up and down daily is pricey. I spend about RM50 a day. (7.70x2) for toll and rest fuel. Makes 250 a week and thousand a month, excluding wear and tear of the car. Yes, my car guzzles fuel like nobody’s business! I travel off-peak to avoid traffic. leave home around 645am sometimes 7. Takes about 50 -70 minutes on average to my office in PJ door to door. and because it’s mostly freeway driving, not that tiring.

plus my job is pretty flexible. thanks to my boss. I can work from home anytime. just that i'm desk-bound at the moment coz my laptop hasn't arrived. when it does, which should be end of this week hopefully, i plan on working from home every wednesdays and other days when i have early morning conference calls or errands to do. i like wednesdays coz its midweek and i can use to recover from mon/tue commuting. Friday are the days i have extended lunch or go for after work drinks with friends. i'd rather be in KL. it should work ok.

bottom line, yesterdays experience has left a bad taste in my mouth on Komuter travelling. unless its life and death, I’m never getting a Komuter back home at peak hours.

Image nicked from here. A Komuter train in Kuala Lumpur Station taken a few years back