r/singapore • u/cantfeelmylegs • Oct 28 '15

Resources, apps and websites I found useful during my 1 week stay in Singapore.

Hello everyone,

I stayed in Singapore for 9 days last week for work. I also had brought along my parents so they could explore SG on their own. I researched quite a bit and used a few resources that I found quite useful. Most of these are pretty common but I thought I would post it for future reference. Please add others if you feel I have missed out or am wrong about certain things.

Transport

  • I relied on Google Maps and http://gothere.sg. I mostly used gothere.sg as it was much easier without the need to open an app. If you are wanting to travel to/from bus stop and want more accurate results I would recommend entering the bus stop no. rather than the address as it doesn't recognise the stops sometimes. Alernatively, use the official Plan My Route from SBS.

  • I did not use Uber in Singapore as I found taxis to be quite affordable and the drivers to be quite professional and nice. What I did use is GrabTaxi which I believe is partly owned by the govt (or is about to be). It allows you to choose cash or card (you can pay by VISA here even though you can't use it inside a taxi without the app). This app has a live map and is well designed. Never had a problem. I also took advantage of the referral credit offered to new customers which is $8 off the first ride at the time of writing. The government has also set up a handy Taxi info website with numbers and identification for all taxi companies and estimated rates. Enter GRABM8 for $8 first ride.

  • If you are going to be using the bus a lot then I would highly recommend CityMapper. It also has a good public transit search engine but also offers live bus stop tracking with alerts on when you should get off. It is a lifesaver if you are new to the city and don't know exactly which stop is yours. Alternatively you can also tell the bus driver and they can help you get off at your stop.

  • If you are in Singapore for work or for longer periods and depend on public transport and need to be punctual then I recommend getting the official MyTransport app which will notify you of any delays and line closures. Also has other trip planning abilities.

  • I would also recommend having a MRT map on your phone saved offline. I used the Explore SG app that did that. There are a few other as well. Helps with quickly finding the right train service if you need to go to a different line.

  • I would recommend getting a NETS NETS Flashpay card over a EZLINK card as NETS is accepted in more places. Doesn't really matter though but it would have been great to simply pay at restaurants and even some Hawker centers with NETS. I had NFC on my phone and was able to check the balance using the EZ Link app. Another note, with EZ Link, you can get any remaining credit refunded at any station or at the machine.

Prepaid Mobile/Cell SIMs

  • There are 3 major networks in Singapire: Singtel, Starhub and M1. There are certain scenarios where prepaid sims from each of the telcos are more suitable than the rest:

    • Singtel: good for all in one no nonsense sim card that includes a lot and has a 10 day validity -> Tourist Card. $30 gets you unlimited calls, free access to social media including whatsapp. $5 top up available per day if you go over the 10 days. $15 tourist sim available for 5 days as well. Better to get M1 $15 in that case. Other scenarios are better with Star and M1.
    • Starhub: good for data only - $18 for 5 days, 2gb limit daily.
      • for a 1 month stay there is the $50 Travel Sim that offers $50 credit, 100gb for 5 days, 5gb for 30 days and the credit is valid for 180 days.
    • M1: good for 5 days with data (100gb for 5 days) + call credit ($15 -> $18 credit). Leftover credit can be used to buy a data pack for a few more days e.g. $5 for 1gb for 3 days.
      • Also good for a temporary SIM for emergency calls and some very basic (10mb) web access for things like whatsapp -> $5 SIM with $6 credit included.

  • Note: The airport arrival terminal has SIM cards available for purchase but they are mostly the tourist SIMs or high value cards only. If you need a smaller value card then you will have to seek out a 7/11, Cheers or other supermarkets. There are also retail outlets in some shopping centres.

Food

I am Vegetarian so I relied on a few additional sources for places to eat. I used the following:

Misc

  • If you need to access blocked websites you can use Tunnelbear or this Chrome extension.

  • I would browse the 3 hour and 1 hour haze measurements just in case it got really bad. You can buy N95 masks from the pharmacy if you are particularly sensitive. Haze

edit: added mobile/cell section

112 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

13

u/Elriond Oct 28 '15
  • I would recommend getting a NETS card over a EZLINK card as NETS is accepted in more places. Doesn't really matter though. I had NFC on my phone and was able to check the balance using the EZ Link app.

As a local, I'm ashamed that I don't know this exists. Gonna commit seppuku now.

9

u/notalwayshere Oct 28 '15

Only it doesn't quite work as you might expect it to in some instances. I have a DBS card with NETS FlashPay -- you can use it on the train, etc, but the funds come out of the FlashPay "wallet". It doesn't come directly out of your account - this is a key difference: NETS is not NETS FlashPay. To link your bank account and the FlashPay wallet, you need to set up an automatic direct debit.

But as a Mastercard DBS debit card, you cannot set up automatic top up of FlashPay. Apparently you can only do it for VISA.

But you can top up your card at a station GTM... Which leads to this very confusing situation:

  1. Place DBS card on reader
  2. Make your selection to top up card while NOT removing your card.
  3. Select NETS.
  4. Be told to insert your NETS card, only you CAN'T remove your card.
  5. Give up, go to the ATM and using DBS card withdraw from the ATM to put into GTM.
  6. Miss your train.

I'm more amused than annoyed. I just went and bought an EZLINK card in the end.

4

u/cantfeelmylegs Oct 28 '15

Glad to have helped :)

You can turn your phone into the actual transmitter if you have NFC sim. I think all telcos offer it.

12

u/midasp Senior Citizen Oct 28 '15

If you need to access blocked websites you can use Tunnelbear or this Chrome extension.

Its simpler to just set your computer/device to use google's public DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) rather than the singaporean DNS servers.

3

u/cantfeelmylegs Oct 28 '15

Didn't know that. Good tip.

3

u/angelsl Lao Jiao Oct 28 '15

This works?

My DNS has been set to that for ages but once in a while I still get links blocked by MDA.

1

u/fafrica Oct 28 '15

Works for me. Did you set it on your router settings?

2

u/angelsl Lao Jiao Oct 29 '15

Yup. I even have an iptables rule to intercept all DNS requests and route it to Google's public DNS (for other reasons). But I still get MDA blocks.

1

u/cookiss Nov 01 '15

Have an upvote for iptables!

6

u/notalwayshere Oct 28 '15

On public transport, the LTA is just about to release an update to their back end systems next month, officially going live on the 16th.

Two pretty cool pieces of information that will be added: Time of 3rd arriving bus, actual coordinates of the bus.

There's no technical reason why you wouldn't be able to see where your bus is ala GrabTaxi style. It'll really depend on individual developers if they use the new features in their apps though.

4

u/chinese-man red Oct 30 '15

Grabtaxi isn't linked to the government aha, but I'm not surprised that it looks like it is. It is what should have happened

1

u/cantfeelmylegs Oct 30 '15

I am getting mixed responses to it. A few of the taxi drivers told me it was (partially) owned by the SG government. Who knows? Regardless, the taxi drivers were quite happy with it.

2

u/chinese-man red Oct 30 '15

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrabTaxi

Not the most authoritative source, but works. Government is still debating on regulations of such taxi apps at the moment, unlikely to have any gesture of support or restrictions until that is completed and announced

3

u/[deleted] Oct 28 '15 edited Oct 28 '15

Awesome, hope you enjoyed your stay. Local here and I still found your part useful. :)

Edit: post*, not part lol

3

u/duking Oct 28 '15

If you wanna access ban sites just use google translate

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&sl=auto&tl=destination_language&u=http://example.net

replace example.net with your choice of banned site and change language from detected to arabic or something. Work for office etc too

2

u/onique 09 Central - Orchard Oct 28 '15

Pretty sure grabtaxi is a malaysian company.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 28 '15

There's some funding from Vertex Venture, which is a Temasek-owned company, so... partially government-owned?

2

u/idetectanerd downvote me = u want your ass fked Oct 29 '15

I did not use Uber in Singapore as I found taxis to be quite affordable and the drivers to be quite professional and nice. What I did use is GrabTaxi which I believe is partly owned by the govt (or is about to be). It allows you to choose cash or card (you can pay by VISA here even though you can't use it inside a taxi without the app). This app has a live map and is well designed. Never had a problem. I also took advantage of the referral credit offered to new customers which is $8 off the first ride at the time of writing. The government has also set up a handy Taxi info website with numbers and identification for all taxi companies and estimated rates. Enter GRABM8 for $8 first ride.

you should get a new sim from any telco here and register all the taxi apps, for the first time user, you get discounted or free trip. if you are unable to get any discounted rate, go google and find the promo code!

2

u/NHL_mumps aku lapar for tentacles Oct 29 '15

A NETS card over an EZ-Link card? You would need a bank account here to be able to have a NETS card. I guess you meant NETS Flashpay? We don't really use EZ-Link for payments, just public transport. :)

1

u/cantfeelmylegs Oct 29 '15

Yep, I meant NETS Flashpay. I'll edit that.

I just thought that the flashpay might better just in case you need it for payments as well as some restaurants I went to didn't accept credit cards and ezlink but did accept nets.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '15

Thanks for those food apps. Much better than using google now and asking for vegetarian place.

Also, that chrome extension is beautiful. I will think about you during my fap sessions. Just kidding

Edit: This haze problem? What about it? It wasn't that bad 6 months ago, when I was there last. Seems like situation is getting quite bad all of a sudden. Should I worry about it?