The attack of cartoon cafes, MRT breakdowns on three different lines and construction workers banned from mall toilets—read on for a quick round-up of the city’s burgeoning (and dying) trends.
Photo credit: Eric Salard
Hot: New pilot schools
Not: Women pilots in Singapore carriers
Haite Singapore Aviation Training Centre, the new $95 million pilot school near Changi Airport, aims to provide 50,000 training hours for airlines in Southeast Asia by adding five more flight simulators to its current two in the next five years. Also launching a new pilot school at Seletar Aerospace Park is Singapore Airlines and aircraft manufacturer Airbus. We are all for reinforcing Singapore as an “aerospace hub” but a report by The Straits Times revealing that female pilots make up less than one per cent of the total pilot population in Singapore makes us wonder why women are underrepresented in the aviation industry here.
Photo credit: Matthew Hadley
Hot: Cartoon Cafes
Not: Cartoon Cafes
Just when you thought things can’t get any more twee with the opening of Sanrio’s Pompompurin Cafe and Hello Kitty Cafe, another cartoon critter is getting its very first themed eatery here. Pokemon Cafe will be taking over Everything With Fries at Bugis Junction from May 27-Jul 31 and like its Sanrio predecessors, the pop-up will also be selling Pokemon merchandise. Gee, we can’t wait.
Photo credit: Alan Tan Keng Hoe
Hot: Driverless cars
Not: More MRT breakdowns
The future is nigh with two driverless shuttles launching at Gardens by the Bay at the end of this year. The wheelchair-accessible Auto Riders, which are making their Asian debut here, will be able to accommodate up to 10 people. In more frustrating transport news, train services on the East-West, North-South, Circle lines, and also the Bukit Panjang LRT were disrupted during peak hour last night due to a power fault. This comes after Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan’s announcement in an Apr 19 blog post that “the North-South Line achieved 100 days without any major incident,”
Wisma Atria
Hot: Celebrating Labour Day with migrant workers
Not: Banning construction workers from toilets
Looking forward to the long Labour Day weekend? If you haven’t made any plans yet, you might want to check out SamaSama, a dinner and art exhibition held at Westlite Dormitory in Mandai. There will be a guided tour of the dormitories, and a dinner with migrant workers on May 1. Only 250 guests are allowed due to security clearance at the venue and interested parties can sign up here.
An unfortunate incident involving shopping mall Wisma Atria made headlines as construction workers were banned from using its public toilets due to complaints about workers showering in the toilets and washing their tools in sinks. Said Transient Workers Count Too executive committee member Debbie Fordyce, “They could just have easily have put up signs cautioning workers against showering or washing tools and told them to do it at the fifth floor toilet.”
