Long daily bus trips

Not now of course, although in present modern Singapore there still are long journeys one can make on a bus, with some services taking impossibly inefficient routes to pass along more streets.

I spent four years of my life a happy student in River Valley High School. In those four years, I probably spent the most hours on the road.

As I qualify for a SAP school based on my PSLE results, my first choice was the Chinese High School along Bukit Timah Road (it still is there at the same address today). My elder brother studied there and most of my chinese friends aspired to be admitted there as well. My malay classmates who were all very bright ended up mostly at Raffles Institution.

I was not accepted in Chinese High. A side story was that my classmate who got the same PSLE results did, and the reason was that he was a gymnast; he later represented Singapore.

Anyway, I decided against an appeal and resigned myself to RVHS. It didn't help that my mum liked the uniform! My parents' place then was at Marsiling (just beside the old customs building) and RVHS then was along West Coast Road, beside the Pandan Reservoir.

For morning sessions, I woke up everyday at 5am, showered, got dressed and took the first bus, service 178, to school. In the morning, and on the first bus, traffic was smooth and there always were seats. I kind of liked the morning rides, with the cool dawn wind blowing in my face and the surroundings were still dark. I can recall all the landmarks. The oil refinery (?) just after the depot which emits pungent and strange odours. Metal Box along Woodlands Road. The two dirt tracks along Yew Tee, and one of them leads to a temple. The Fire Station at the junction before Bukit Timah Road where the bus will take a right turn.

The journey back home was dreadful. Service 178's destination from Woodlands was Jurong, which was the manufacturing hub. Everyday, by the time 178 reached Jurong East, where I boarded the bus for the way home, it will almost always be crowded. To add to the agony of having to stand for the almost 1.5 hour trip, the bus stopped almost at every stop either to allow passengers to alight or pick up more people.

That's not all the pain we passengers had to endure. Before the bus can turn into the depot at Woodlands, it has to pass through Woodlands Road which also happens to be the mother of all roads into the customs and Johor Bahru. Traffic sometimes got so bad that most passengers will elect to alight some 5km away from the station (when the bus got stuck in traffic and stuttered on) and take a brisk walk. My school mate Chongfu and I were among those weary commuters.

I can still recall those days vividly. But now with a smile.