“It beats walking,” said Soh, who buys a $20 monthly pass. Under that plan, trips shorter than a half-hour are free.

They want time there to be “very special, almost festive”, says Soh Yoon-young, an architect and author.

In sentencing Rahman to five years in jail, District Judge Kessler Soh emphasized that a deterrent sentence and “much stiffer punishment is warranted.”