The boy's aunt, Ms Ng shared on her Facebook that her nephew was about to walk through the gantry after tapping his fare card when it happened.
She also said that none of the two staff at the office came out to assist her sister when she seek help. The mom then opened the side gate to get to her son.
Ms Ng said her sister was upset that no staff came to her assistance and they even tried to record her conversation with them.
When such incidents happen, you can be sure that an investigation will be carried out and the corporate communication department to be involved in issuing statement.
The senior vice president of the department, Tammy Tan, said the company was "sorry to hear" that the kid was hurt and they have spoken to the father about the kid's condition.
Ms Tan also described how the accident happened after reviewing footage of the CCTV.
"From the footage, the mother who was pushing a stroller, had tapped in first followed by the child and then the father, Mr Lim. As Mrs Lim was making her way through the fare gate, there was a distance between her and the stroller causing the system to recognize this as entry by two separate entities. The stroller passed through the fare gate on the mother's card while the mother did so on the child's card. Therefore, when the child proceeded forward, the flaps of the fare gates closed on him as the system had detected an intrusion. There was no malfunction in the fare gate." (Quote : Channel News Asia)
Fact : No malfunction in the fare gate
Reality : Someone was hurt
For those in the PR field, what do you think of this last statement?
Ms Tan further commented that Mrs Lim should have approached SBS Transit staff for assistance in getting her son through the fare gate instead of opening the side door manually for him though she acknowledged the incident could be better handled - the staff should have come out of the office to check on the situation.
This defence mechanism is probably implemented to deter commuters who are trying to cheat the system for a free ride by tailgating other commuters who tapped on the gantry in front of them.
But it is also potentially dangerous as you can see from the incident above.
If you look at the system in Singapore, it isn't that bad. I suspect the few times that I encountered the fare gate closing on me were due to me tapping the card too close to the commuters in front and the system didn't read my card or perhaps lagging problem especially when traffic is high.
In fact, the fare gate on BTS train in Bangkok seems to close much faster than here. I had been hit by the fare gate countless times that now I always make sure there's no one in front of me and I'm ready to go through before tapping my fare card.
In Singapore, there are wider fare gates for those with baby pram or those on wheel chair to pass through. But you see other commuters not giving way to those who need it. In Bangkok, there aren't any. But the service of the staff at the train station is way way way much better than here. If you are carrying a baby or pushing your kid in a pram, if you are pushing luggage, and if you are an elderly, the security guard will let you go through by a side gate. He or she will then take your fare card and tap it at the fare gate before returning it to you. As parent with kids and pram, as commuter with luggage and as elderly who may be slightly slower, you do not have to fight and jostle with the massive and messy crowd traffic. Most importantly, it's so much safer for these groups of commuters.
After this incident was reported, it seems there were similar experiences by parents which probably went unreported.
The question is - will anything be changed?