Getting Older

This morning, I realised how old I was getting.

I realised I've gone through three generations of bus services, in my lifetime.

When I was a small kid, buses were not air-conditioned and there used to be conductors who walked around in the buses with a sling bag filled with coloured tickets and a hole puncher. There were different coloured bus tickets for different people - the children, the senior citizens, the adults etc. And on these coloured tickets were numbers. Once you got on the bus, the conductor had to memorise your face. You then take a seat and wait for him to come up to you to get your fare. Upon telling him your destination, he takes the the correct coloured-ticket (I can't remember what colour's for who, but I know there were red, green and blue tickets), and punches a hole on one of the numbers. You then pay your fare, and collect the ticket.

And then progress came in the form of little coin boxes which were placed next to the bus driver. Conductors were probably retrenched in droves (I'm not sure. I haven't learnt to read the papers then) as buses turned OMO (One Man Operation). So now, you went up the bus and dropped your fare into the little coin box. To made sure there was no fraud, these boxes had glass tops, so that the drivers could check the amount of money we dropped into the coin box, before he flips open the flaps, to let the coins fall into the deep recesses of the big tin coin box.

I cannot for the life of me remember whether the boxes that spewed bus tickets happened at the same time or slightly later. As I mentioned before, I'm getting old...

And now, we have the 3rd generation of buses... No more conductors, no more coin boxes, no more coins and bus tickets, and air-conditioned comfort. And TV mobile even! (Although I think TV Mobile is a bane more than a blessing! It's so darn noisy! ) Gee, I wonder what the next generation of buses will be like, no drivers perhaps?! And maybe no wheels! Instead we'll be floating on an air cushion instead, so less wear and tear. Or how about an amphibious bus - one that can travle on the roads and into the water as well?

Who knows! All I know is that, I'll be even older when Generation 4 of public bus transport rolls around! ARGH!