40 times is the charm: Singapore commuter bizarrely swipes through same terminal repeatedly


Commuters were baffled by this Singapore passenger who repeatedly tapped in and tapped out of the same subway gate - 40 times in just two minutes on May 17.

The lad was seen swiping his pre-paid card at the electronic barrier at Outram Park station.

But rather then board the city’s MRT train, he made a swift u-turn and headed back through the same set of gates - racking up a fee for the journey.

He then repeatedly entered and left through the same gate a further 19 times. Bemused onlookers branded the man’s behaviour ‘’weird’’ and speculated that it could have been a bizarre game.

Filmer Alan Cheong said he counted the man tapping 40 times - racking up bills for 20 journeys.

He said: ‘’This person kept on tapping in and out of the gantry. It was weird. I have no idea why he was doing it.’’

Some viewers of Alan’s clip suggested the bizarre behaviour was a kind of challenge to see how many times a passenger could tap in and tap out of the station before being moved on.

While others suggested he could be a plain-clothed volunteer who was testing the system or someone who simply wanted to ‘’clock up mileage’’ for loyalty points.

Leow Phing said: ‘’I’ve witnessed this kind of thing it a few times at the LRT stations as there aren’t many commuters there. It’s strange.’’

Raymond Ho said: ‘’He is volunteer off-duty MRT worker who wants to try the contactless master card for tapping in and out.’’

Jade Sadako Soh Mebbe said: ‘’Maybe he picked up the card of his enemy and wanted to use their credit.’’