Unloading one man's crap onto the entire world...
Sunday, March 05, 2006
How to deal with change: Workplace moving to a different city
- Trashed by SampahMan @ 11:43 PM
Why this post?One of the comments to Price of Petrol: RM1.92 (30 sen increase) read:
"One of my teacher once said something like - when you focus on a "problem", it will become your real problem.
In other words, the quality of your life is determined by what you focus on.
You can choose to focus on rising gasoline price, lousy minister who simply give out handphone number etc or you can choose to focus on how you can add more value to others and yourselves.
By law of nature, the thing called wealth is normally attracted to the later group.
Perhaps I shouldn't comment too much since I live freaking near to workplace, but - I know what my choice is anyway.
On a side note, one of our colleague recently commented about our move to KL - he seems to have it planned out, he's gonna use the public transport and earn the time to do more reading and thinking. I have a role model." - weekhang
Driving to Kay-Hell?
Since we are in the topic of the office moving from Cyberjaya (CJ) to Kuala Lumpur (KL), let me start by ACKNOWLEDGING that this is a problem for me.
Why? Here are some rough statistics:
I live in a suburb called Subang Jaya (SJ). Driving from SJ to CJ takes me 30 minutes in the morning. After factoring in petrol costs at their current prices, and also toll payments and parking costs, that comes to around RM520 per month. That will be about 17% of my total income per month devoted to getting to work. That's a pretty high percentage, but I have chosen to accept this and live with it. I also get to leave my home at 8am, if I needed to get to work by 8.30am.
If the office moved to KL today, and I continued to drive to work, let's look at the numbers once again. I will be showing the costs for the fastest way to get to work, and also the cheapest way to get to work (assuming that I left for work at 6.45am every morning, and if I had to get to work between 8.30 to 9am).
Fastest
Estimated time required to get to work: 1 hour
Grand Total (Fastest): RM628. That's an instant jump to 21% of my total income dedicated to driving. Extremely unacceptable. And I am going to have to start my journey 30 minutes earlier.
Cheapest
Estimated time required to get to work: 2 hours
Grand Total (Cheapest): RM500. That's a 1% decrease to 16% of my income. The only thing unacceptable here is the 2 hour journey to work.
Therefore, it looks like there are two ways to solve this problem if I chose to drive to KL.
One: Accept the fastest way, and spread the extra costs across the board. For example, prepare lunch instead of eating out. I will list this as one of the options I will be considering. (Option 1)
Two: If I woke up at 5.30am, and left home at 6am in the morning, I will be able to take the cheapest route, and even reduce the cost of petroleum used. Since there will not be any traffic, I will arrive at the office well before 7am. I could then choose to take a 1 and a half hour shuteye, but I probably won't be able to do that since I will already be wide awake. I will not consider this an option because I would have to alter my lifestyle too drastically to have to wake up at 5.30am.
So what are the alternatives to driving?
Here are a few alternatives that I have considered:
1) Car Pooling. I have 2 other colleagues in the same area, and I am certain that they will face the same problem as me. This way, if everyone is on board, then travel costs will drop significantly. (Option 2)
2) Taking public transportation. More onthis later.
3) Move to a suburb in KL. Continue driving to work as usual, without the added costs. (Option 3)
4) Quit, and get another job. (Option 4)
Public Transport, what are my options?
1) Take a bus to Kota Raya. From there, transfer to another bus that brings me to work.
2) Take a bus to Asia Jaya LRT station. Get to Masjid Jamek station, and transfer to Star LRT to get to the station nearest to office. Walk 15 minutes to work.
3) Drive to Subang Komuter Station. Get to KL Sentral, and transfer to Star LRT to get to the station nearest to office. Walk 15 minutes to work.
4) Drive to Kelana Jaya LRT station. Get to Masjid Jamek station, and transfer to Star LRT to get to the station nearest to office. Walk 15 minutes to work.
At its current conditions, I will never consider taking public transportation (a bus, at least) unless I really needed to. There are numerous issues that bug me, basically those dealing with punctuality, safety, and inconvenience. I based these grouses on my previous experiences as a public transportation user in the Klang Valley between December 1998 to March 2000. I have sworn never to take a bus in the Klang Valley ever since, and I have not needed to break that personal promise.
Punctuality
First of all, there are no bus schedules anywhere in Malaysia. I can only guess that a bus arrives between 6.00am - 6.30am. If the driver happens to come earlier on that day, then I will have to wait for the next bus, which might be 30 minutes later. Which is a whole lot considering that every minute, traffic builds up exponentially. Also this is coming from someone who has waited for a bus to arrive for 3 solid hours. The following mind-fuck plays a big part: "I've already waited so long, I'm sure it's gonna come soon".
Safety
Ever been molested in public transportation? I have (and I'm a guy). It seemed all too innocent, but the fucker definitely pinched my crotch on purpose. Too shocked to respond, too late when wanting to respond since he already got off.
And the process of waiting for public transportation, especially when you worked late and you're going home late is dangerous as well. You risk getting mugged, raped, victim of a snatch theft (daytime robbery as well), murdered for spare change or more. I prefer to forgo this risk for the risk of getting killed in a car accident. Anytime.
Inconvenience
Public transport ends a little bit before midnight. And I mean all train and bus services.
You can't choose to work late. Have you ever tried to beg someone to fetch you home all the way to Subang Jaya, if it's not on their way? Good luck. Tried taking a taxi from KL to SJ? Rich ass. It also means that your after work activities will probably be focused on getting home first, so that you can get to your car and go somewhere else.
Ever been caught in a thunderstorm? Got your shoes soaked to the feet? Flooding in KL? That's very likely as well. There's a reason DBKL has set up flood warning signboards in strategics areas in the city. Even in a thunderstorm, the good old busses will probably be stuck in gridlock anyway, so you won't be getting home on time. So you go home wet (think wet socks!), hungry, and tired.
Ever been pissed-off, because the bus decides to change their route on the fly, thereby forcing you to emergency plan your way to work? You can bet your ass that it happens.
Ever been rushing to work, and when a road accident happens, the bus driver decides to roll by at 5km/h to check out what's the deal? You can bet your ass that happens as well.
Oh, if you plan to read or think while going to work, I sincerely hope you are travelling on a less popular route, because I have tried it when I was in school, and it didn't work for me.
Can you read/think if the bus/train is filled to the brim with people squashed against you? When people joke about bus conducters saying "masuk belakang sikit" even when the bus is very obviously overcrowded, that's because it's true. Take my word for it.
Can you read/think if you're the one standing instead? What if you are standing right at the door? Read about the poor IT guy who took a bus to MidValley, and died of head injuries because he had to stand right at the door (which was unclosed) and fell?
Can you read at night in the bus, when the lights in the buses are dimmer than the lights that I use on my aquarium? You can try risking bad eyesight.
Can you think properly if the person beside you has really unbearable BO?
What's the conclusion?
I have obviously concluded, based on my past experiences, that taking public transportation is not in my best interests. Some people might find my experiences outdated for 2006, although I doubt it. Therefore, these are the options for me:
Option 1: Accept the fact that prices are going to increase, just find other ways to cut costs. Also, will have to wake up at 6.15 instead of 7.45 to get to work at 8.30am.
Option 2: Car pool. Only thing is that everyone has to agree on a schedule.
Option 3: Move to another suburb in KL. My cousin has offered to rent me a room in Wangsa Maju. That can be considered.
Option 4: Quit, get another job.
Right now, options 2,3, and 4 are my only considerations, although options 3 and 4 have a definite edge.
Comments
-cheng
y
1) sounds wise. That % is going to drop after this month (not that it is supposed to make up for it).
2) sounds fun, not that difficult to agree on a schedule most of the time.
3) Can't comment, don't know the traffic condition towards KL during peak hours.
4) Well, let's say you draw a circle of 1-hour-worth-of-journey-during-peak-hour diameter from your house, how many areas with good career option can you find?
Obviously CJ is one of them, but from my personal view there are only 3 companies (eh hem) worth working for in CJ for a person of your calibre, though I don't know if you'll like them.
Shit, who are we kidding.
opt 1 - kl working class routine; the allocation funding for transport is goin to stick there and more, as well as time allocation. kl traffic sucks, unless u work late, n i mean reaaaal late n pray it doesnt rain..np at all. but beware of parking lots and dark corners at nite. learning up a bit of self defense n vocal practice is a good investment (even for a boy).
opt 2 - best choice since all cut cost. but suck on the schedule thingy, most ppl would like to rush off at their own time, patience is the keyword here.
opt 3 - wangsa maju traffic at 6.45 am to 8 am suck, i know cos i live there for 2 yrs n counting. 1.5 yr spent on the road, previous com flexi hr (9-10am) so tat's alrite, current one gt work early (8.30am), so need to adjust waking up time to suit traffic n i tell u, the traffic suck, i've lately developed lunch topics which includes mostly short cuts to work n back. another issue need to consider; waking up discipline suck suck SUCK big time..i can barely stay awake and spent 2-10 min in the toilet trying to catch some shut eyes (the toilet is shared by diff companies, so private time is very limited) n nowadays gt skip morn bathes cos waking up discipline suck, so u know where i'm goin w tis. wangsa maju is great in terms of food, the downside has got to be the high density population tat hike up the traffic period..basically traffic suck. but i know a couple of nifty short cuts i can show u, n yamcha w me n steven is just around the block, considering tat i'm not pooped out frm work just yet. and the public transport at wangsa maju is another cool effect, got putra, star n monorail all within 10 min (very less traffic) driving distance, plus busses, which i'm sure u wun b using any day soon, neither would i (no groping experience there, though i couldnt say much for walking alone on the streets of wangsa maju, especially near tar college). n many chinese ppl around, mostly post TARcians, many cute freshies to look at, if u know where to yamcha. n some really nice bkt places to go if u r bkt fans (at least for me, i've settled for affordable + good food, especially on weekends).
opt 4 - if location is a prob, then u got limited choice. if living nomadic aint a problem for u, u've got the whole world's opportunity at ur selection. :-)
hope u made the best choice under the circumstances, n hope the solution carries off till the next time the government hollar "Petrol naik 15 sen. Tiada kenaikan lagi untuk tahun ini." (yeah rite..i wuldnt bet my *ss on it..)
regards,
another blogger
Here's my report.
1. Left home 6:50am. Armed with MP3 player loaded with Haydn, Schubert and Mozart, plus readings for my saturday exam.
Why did I leave so early? Cause the wife got meeting at 7am.
The Good: Good exercise climbing stairs.
The Bad: well i could have left later if not for the wife. Had to climb some stairs cause I went through the back side of Putrajaya ERL station.. exercise worr..
Ticket price RM9:50. Could be RM15.00 if I buy return. Monthly pass is RM190.00.
2. Got on the 7:06 train. Limited empty seats. Let some women took the seats.. then a macho man in army uniform took a seat I was aiming at and left another lady standing. Not too comfortable reading standing up, I decided to go with the music. Got a seat after the stop at Bandar Tasik Selatan.
The Good: Symphony no.94 in G Major, Surprise.
The Bad: Stood for 15 minutes or so..ok lah..
3. Disembarked the train at 7:33am.
Check out the queue at the check out machine (is that what its called?), about 10 meter long, any longer the queue would have been forced into an L-shape because I am at the tail end of the queue leaning against a wall. anyway, I got through the queue after 2 minutes or so, and came out a bit disoriented. 7:40am.
The Good: Allergo vivace from Symphony No5 in B-Flat major
The Bad: The 2 minutes queue?
4. After finding my orientation.. made my way towards the Monorial station. Took a lift near the exit from ERL station, went through a sheltered pathway and resisted some temptations from Hum Chim Peng and Nasi Lemak sellers.
Crossed Jalan Tun Sambathan. Paid RM 2.50 for the ticket, got into the station and the train arrived. 7:45am. The train was empty as it was the first station. Think it waited for about 5 minutes before departure.
The Good: Seat on the Monorial! Free The Sun newspaper. Will get the Hum Chim Peng next time. Less than 5 minutes from ERL station to the Monorial, not what I expected.
The Bad: RM2.50 ticket. No season ticket I heard. The crossing part on Jalan Tun Sambathan is not sheltered, potential suffering in rainy days.
5. Train moved..and I got off at Medan Tuanku Station. Looked for elavator to go down to the road level.. found one but its only for coming up! Took the staircase down. Eh, the new office is less than 1 minute away from Monorial.
time check - 8:00am.
The Good: Was a bit estatic about completing the journey at this point, can't think of anything else.
The Bad: The stairs are bad for my knee. That's the worst part of the journey.
The End.
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