Pioneer Magazine

Every national service man should have seen Pioneer Magazine before as it is auto subscribed once you entered army. For those who are not sure, it is a magazine that writes about military news and fitness tips etc. 

You will receive pioneer magazine delivered to your house monthly. The monthly subscription fee is S$0.40 which will be deducted from your pay. When you are completing your full time national service, they will deduct S$14.40 in advance from your last month pay so that the magazine subscription will be extended for another three years.

Some of you might wonder why I wrote this article as subscription fee of S$0.40 per month is reasonable for a magazine. I agreed that the price is reasonable. However, below are some of the points you may want to know:

1. Some households may receive more than 1 copy as they might have brothers who is also serving national service
2. Some of them do not bother to read the magazine
3. Some of them use it to put fish bones
4. There is an online web version which is FREE
5. There is also an iPad version which is FREE plus it includes interactive multimedia contents

If you wish to unsubscribe pioneer magazine, you can look for your unit S1 or admin clerk if you are still an active national service man. Alternatively, you can send an email to pnr_cir@starnet.gov.sg if you are an ORD Personnel.

To conclude, I think mindef should not force every national service man to auto subscribe the magazine as they should promote their online web or iPad version.

Saving Tips

1. You can save more than S$14.40 if you were to unsubscribe early
2. You can save the environment by choosing the free digital versions

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7 Ways To Save Money In Your 20s

Here are a few tips to survive and thrive in your 20s without breaking the bank.

1. Live with Roommates
2. Rent appliances
3. Invest in a bicycle instead of motorcycle or car
4. Learn to Cook
5. Cancel Your Cable TV Subscription
6. Steer clear of credit cards
7. Volunteer With an Organization

For more elaboration, check out Yahoo News link.

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Utilising Distance Fares Scheme

Distance fares benefit commuters who travel long distances as the total fare is computed based on the total distance travelled. However, some people do not utilise it correctly. I strongly recommend you to check on how distance fares works and my post on planning your public transport trip. By doing so, you would be able to find the cheapest or fastest route to your destination.

Here are some of the important points taken from PublicTransport@SG site which I believed most of the commuters ignored or find it difficult to understand.

To fully enjoy the benefits of Distance Fares, remember these points:

• Pay with an EZ-Link or NETS Flashpay stored value card 
• You may make up to 5 transfers within a single journey, with a 45-minute allowance between each transfer 
• You can take up to 2 hours to complete your journey 
• You should enter and exit the train network only once in a journey
• You should not take the same bus service number more than once in a journey

In this article, I will show you some of the scenarios that can save money for you based on the above points.

Scenario 1

Peter stays in Compassvale Street and wants to go to Sengkang interchange to buy food back home.

Usual route he took

Board LRT from Compassvale station and alights at Sengkang station. Distance 0.8 km and fare S$0.73.
Within 45 minutes, he has to board LRT from Sengkang station and alights at Compassvale station. Distance 0.8 km and fare S$0.73.

Total distance would be 1.6 km and total fare calculated to be S$1.46.

Suggested route
Board LRT from Compassvale station and alights at Sengkang station. Distance 0.8 km and fare S$0.73.
Within 45 minutes, he has to board Bus 83 from Sengkang interchange and alights at Compassvale Street. Distance 2.0 km and fare S$0.0.

Total distance would be 2.8 km and total fare calculated to be S$0.73. He saved S$0.73 i.e. 50%!

This is one of the best ways to save money if you can complete the tasks within 45 minutes. Do take note of the important point which is to change a different transport. Moreover, there might be more choices of buses for him to travel back home so he can cut down the waiting time. Although the travelling distance might be longer for some buses, the fare is still cheaper overall.

Scenario 2

Mary stays near the bus stop at 190C Punggol Road and wants to go Hougang Avenue 10 to pass her friend something.

Usual route she took

Board Bus 27 from 190C Punggol Road bus stop and alights at Hougang Avenue 10 opposite Blk 521. Distance 3.3 km and fare S$0.83.
Within 45 minutes, she has to board Bus 27 from Hougang Control Interchange and alights at Blk 298A Punggol Road. Distance 4.0 km and fare S$0.83.

Total distance would be 7.3 km and total fare calculated to be S$1.66.

Suggested route

Board Bus 27 from 190C Punggol Road bus stop and alights at Hougang Avenue 10 opposite Blk 521. Distance 3.3 km and fare S$0.83.
Within 45 minutes, she has to board Bus 89 from Hougang Control Interchange and alight at Blk 298A Punggol Road. Distance 4.0 km and fare S$0.34.

Total distance would be 7.3 km and total fare calculated to be S$1.17. She saved S$0.49.

If her return trip has alternative bus that travels the same route back, she simply can wait for other buses to save cost unless she had exceeded the 45 minutes transfer allowance.

Scenario 3

John stays near Punggol Coral Edge LRT station and travels to his workplace at Courts Bukit Timah.

Usual route he took

Board LRT from Punggol Coral Edge station and alights at Boon Keng MRT Station. Distance 12.9 km and fare S$1.64.
Within 45 minutes, he has to board Bus 985 from Boon Keng station bus stop and alights at opposite Bukit Timah Plaza. Distance 13.6 km and fare S$0.43.

Total distance would be 26.5 km and total fare calculated to be S$2.07.

Suggested route

Board LRT from Punggol Coral Edge station and alight at Boon Keng MRT Station. Distance 12.9 km and fare S$1.64.
Within 45 minutes, he has to board Bus 985 from Boon Keng station bus stop and alights at opposite Bukit Timah Plaza. Distance 13.6 km and fare S$0.43. After that, he has to board any one of the buses from bus 67, 75, 170, 171, 184, 852, 961 within 45 minutes at opposite Bukit Timah Plaza and alights at opposite Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. Distance 0.5 km and fare S$0.00.

Total distance would be 27.0 km and total fare calculated to be S$2.07. He saves time from walking 500 m of distance.

Hope this article teaches you how to save money by utilising distance fares calculation and also save you time from walking as well.

Screen shot and calculation taken from Distance Fare Calculator.

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Planning Your Public Transport Trip

Planning public transport trip is important as it not only allows us to find the correct and shortest route to the destination, it also saves time for travelling.

Some applications provide a few alternative routes based on the cheapest fares and also calculates the total fares for us.

We can evaluate which is the best or cheapest route so it can be calculated into our monthly travel expenses. Here are some of the websites that I used:

Gothere.sg - Website (Free) and iOS App(Paid)

I ranked this as my first choice because their website has a user-friendly interface which is easy to use. Moreover, they constantly update and improve their functions which provide the best results among other services most of the time. 

Some other useful functions include:

• Filter based on Bus, Train + Bus, Taxi and Driving
• Alternative routes
• Estimation of total time, fare and transfers
• Clearly indicate the routing details on which stop to alight and which MRT exit to go out
• Map with icons to guide you where to transfer and how to walk to the destination

TransitLink How2Go - Website (Free) and iOS App (Free)

Function is quite similar as Gothere.sg but the map is different. It is also a bit confusing and slow although it is still on beta as of time of writing. 

OneMap - Website (Free)

It does provide free excellent map software for iOS and Android but it does not support public transit function as of time of writing.

Google Maps - Website (Free) and Android/iOS App (Free, built-in)

As compared with Gothere.sg functions, the things I liked so far are the website provides more alternative routes and it also has calculation based on walking distance. Do note that the walking calculation function is still on beta stage.

The things I don't really like are some of the suggested routing details are not as good as compared to Gothere.sg. It also never display the total fare as well.

SBS Transit Plan My Route - Website (Free) and Android/iOS App (Free)

The results are based on SBS Transit services like SBS Bus/NEL/LRT only. Hence, the suggestions are limited. 

Conclusion

Different websites provide different methods of calculation so it is best to compare different websites and see which one gives you the best results.

I will usually compare Gothere.sg with Google Maps results. Most of the time I am satisfied with Gothere.sg results as it provides the total travel fares so that it is convenient when I keep track of my monthly travel expenses.

Saving Tips

If you travel long distances frequently, check out http://www.transitlink.com.sg to see if you are eligible for concession pass. For instance, if you are a tertiary student and takes train from Sengkang to Dover every weekday, it will costs you S$2 X 2 per weekday. For the monthly calculation, it should be around an average of S$4 X 23 = S$92. It is definitely a good choice to purchase a Train Concession Pass (TCP) at S$45. You will save around 50%!

You can try out some of the above-mentioned websites to see which of them provides the cheapest total travel fares although the disadvantage might be you need to do more transfers. In any cases whereby you need to do your own travel fare calculation, do check out the distance fare calculator at http://www.publictransport.sg/content/publictransport/en/homepage/eServices/farecalculator.html

In the next article, I will talk about how to utilise distance fares scheme.

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