According to an October 28 report by The Straits Times, rail operator SMRT has been playing instrumental music at 43 of its stations since September.

Playing music at MRT stations

As part of a pilot initiative to provide a more soothing commuting experience, music is played six hours a day during the morning and evening peak hours, as well as lunch time.

The music is usually played near the gantries, where commuters enter and exit.

According to the ST report, playing music supposedly has the following benefits:

• Decreasing the perceived waiting time
• Helping to calm commuters down in the event of a frustrating experience (e.g. train breakdown)
• Influence the movement of crowds to facilitate crowd control

The report also states that they intend to expand this initiative to more stations on the Circle Line, North-South and East-West lines, as well as at SMRT bus interchanges in the coming months.

Netizens react

In response to the article, many netizens took to the comments section to share their views on this policy.

On board with the idea

Some seemed to be on board with the idea, and even had suggestions for what they wanted to hear:

Not impressed by music

Others were not impressed by the music, saying that they did not enjoy it:

More commuters mentioned that they would rather have better train reliability and frequency.

Other suggestions to calm commuters

Instead of playing music, however, some had other suggestions to calm commuters:

MRT station not a good place to enjoy music

A handful also pointed out that MRT stations do not provide a conducive environment for people to enjoy the music.

The infamous Peter Tan even took the time to write a long comment about the ideal conditions necessary for one to appreciate music:

Wow.

Top photo adapted from Wikimedia.

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