Classification of social class in Singapore
In Singapore, you can tell the class structure that a person belongs to by his or her main mode of transport: The upper class people travel by car, the middle class people travel by train, and the lower class people travel by bus. People who travel by car or cab belong to the upper class as these are the most expensive modes of transport in the country. Did you know that in Singapore, just the tax for an average car such as a Honda Civic is enough to pay for a brand new Civic in United States? Tax makes up a big portion of the amount that one has to fork out to acquire a car due to limited space. Singapore with a population of only four million has to allocate limited land resources in a piece of densely populated la
nd that has an area of approximately nine hundred square miles. An alternative to commuting by car is cab. The cost of a ride rarely exceeds a dollar which is great as the buses are extremely comfortable and air-conditioned. Singaporeans have to pay approximately four dollars for every gallon of gasoline. The middle class people travel by train due to economical pricing and speed. An option to purchase the bus card, which entitles one to unlimited bus rides, makes it all the more attractive to the budget conscious lower class people. This will remain true as long as there is no change in the hefty tax and the subsidization program. Bus is still the most popular mode of transport among the low class. The cost of traveling by car is relatively cheaper to the cost of traveling by cab but to some, nothing beats having someone else doing the driving and swearing. But the ability to overcome the traffic via an underground tunnel is priceless, not literally though. Another deterrent is the prices of gasoline. Through my observation, people in Singapore can be categorized into the three different class structures based on their main mode of transport. The insane price tag for a car is enough to deter the middle and lower class people from purchasing even the entry level cars. Despite heavy subsidization, traveling by MRT is still out of the budget range of the majority of people who falls into the lower class category.
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