When you’re having a bad day, sometimes even small things seem to go wrong.
However, a kind gesture from a stranger, no matter how small, can immediately lift your spirits.
One Singaporean discovered this when she forgot to bring her EZ-Link card out one day.
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Luckily, the bus captain kindly allowed her to pay for the fare using all the coins she had – which amounted to just 60 cents.
She was so grateful that she shared the story in a post on Facebook on Friday (19 Mar).
Singaporeans who take public transport often may recognise the frustration of forgetting to bring out your EZ-Link card, and not having a spare nor any mobile e-payment set up.
In order to go anywhere, you’d either have to pay full fare in – gasp – cash, buy a new card if possible, or go back home to get it.
For Ms Klara Chong, what made things worse was when she realised her mistake, she had already boarded the bus and it had moved off.
This happened when she boarded service 70M along Yio Chu Kang Road on Sunday (14 Mar) at about 4.15pm.
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Ms Chong said she felt exasperated, as she thought that being unable to pay the full fare, she would have had to get down at the next stop.
Worse still, she might also face the wrath of the bus captain if he was feeling grumpy.
She did, however, try to explain the situation to the driver, and he didn’t get irritated.
Instead, he simply asked her whether she had any coins.
Ms Chong only had 60 cents, but he just asked her to put that in.
He then printed out a ticket for her. It was for a bus fare of $2.10.
That would allow her to remain on the bus all the way to her destination, which was about 2km away.
Ms Chong said she “felt extremely grateful”.
It turns out that she had a bad day before this incident.
However, this act of kindness was the perfect thing to lift her mood.
For that, she thanked the bus driver again before she alighted. Though Ms Chong didn’t get his name, she still wanted to compliment him.
Ms Chong also implored SBS Transit not to penalise the bus captain in any way for letting her pay $1.50 less.
She said she’ll gladly top up the balance at or allow a deduction to be made on her EZ-Link card, if necessary.
Otherwise, she may also “pay it forward” – meaning if she sees something in need of bus fare, she’ll help them.
This may seem like an insignificant story, as $1.50 isn’t that much cash.
But the amount isn’t the point – it’s the fact that we shouldn’t shy away from small favours like these, thinking they’re meaningless.
If you can brighten just one person’s day, it’s worth doing. Not only would you be the difference between a bad day and a better one, the deed will surely be remembered fondly for a long time.
Kudos to the bus captain for his generosity. It’s these empathetic and kind gestures that truly make our public transport world-class.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and Facebook.
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