Are we being taken for a 'ride'? (bus fare woes)

optisailor2002 said:
cos they think singaporeans stupid, tell us what we accept what lor.

and think we all maths fail.

80% of the people in singapore only makes up 1/3 of the population :D
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well, even in this forum someone 'thought' the company is a public listed one and therefore doesn't have anything to do with the government.

i think many people here choose to think that way
 
hehe 'public listed' but majority shareholders and many key board members have strong PAP ties. That's basic knowledge of how it runs in Singapore.

optisailor2002: for a while I was staring at your 80% statement and wondering whats wrong with it :p
 
Anyone who wants to make some money should buy SMRT shares lor. Since sure make money. Hopefully can use the profit and cover the rise in transport fees.
 
heh, mrt share is at its highest round $2.3x++ this time over the last couple years, unless theres any thing to excite the market, if not, migh just stay round the amount or drop down. Those who bought it 8 to 9 years back at $0.6x or so, will/has reap close to 4x the profit, at the current market value. Buying mrt share now prolly not going to earn much unless buying in bulk lots and earn that couple cents.

Iam just amused at the usual reaction on the fare revision thingy can also lead back to gahmen take money, more money, public transport company, gahmen linked, take money, more money. Machiam everything also link back to them gahmen sucks, take money etc.

Oh well, the worst/saddest part has definitely that we think they suck, but we cant get out of here...hehe
 
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i think some of us in this thread are upset, due to some reasons (can be one, two or all of below):

1. the price hike itself
2. the fact that the people up there, or the people in the company think that the consumers are stupid enough to believe their masked up price hike to be a genuine saving.
3. the fact that they seem to neglect the consumers' point of view.

having said that, i'd argue that if, for example, the extra profit they earn is used to, say, improve the welfare of the bus drivers, MRT drivers and/or the lower echelons of the employees of the companies, i'm all for it.

one thing that we ought to fight, though, is the defeatist attitude that some of us actually display. it is not going to bring anyone anywhere (although this debate is not going to get anyone anywhere as well, heheh)
 
... lets all add to your list.
Off the top of me head....


4. the fact that we are all being duped and that we've no other choice but to still use their services
 
K2desoog said:
and after a few years when the IDR gets going, it'll be like singapore :0

ps. remind me not to ask you for help on maths eh. LOLz
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ehhh no. dont ask the government for help.

cos ppl do survey show that 80% experience increase in fare, but govt say only 1/3 will experience fare hike.

so maybe the gahmen thought 80% = 1/3 :D
 
boyl said:
...having said that, i'd argue that if, for example, the extra profit they earn is used to, say, improve the welfare of the bus drivers, MRT drivers and/or the lower echelons of the employees of the companies, i'm all for it.
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Well, that is only a big IF. But I highly doubt it. The way I see it, SBS/SMRT only cares about one thing.....profits for its shareholders (and the PAP government holds a big chunk of it).

To cut cost, SBS hires China drivers who couldn't speak a word of English.....to the dismay of non-Chinese speaking commuters as well as tourists. Plus, more accidents involving SBS buses occurred over the last year, and some passengers suffered serious injuries.

To cut cost, SMRT runs its trains less frequently, despite the increase in commuters due to massive influx of foreigners. Now people are packed worse than sardines during peak hours, plus the air-cons are often not running cold. But its million dollar CEO said the trains have not reach "crush load" (in another words, no one die yet lah), so they don't bother.

Now.....is the welfare of the SBS/SMRT employees more of concerned? Or the welfare of the commuters we should be (seriously) more concerned about?
 
i should have capitalised the if to exert the point, hahah, but it's not my style.

but, yea, unfortunately it is only an if (at least for now).

hell, perhaps, unbeknownst to us, they indeed get a pay rise, so we should not blindly make allegations as well, yeap.

and as for whose welfare is more important, i think both are equally important. commuters as the consumers naturally are the 'kings' but on the other hand, to provide good service, the service providers have to have their own welfare taken care off as well. so it's a circle kind of thing.
 
i seriously dont think we have the infrastructure to support an even larger population. housing, transport, whatever.

the new fare system masks a fare hike. it is a fact.

the hike pressures bus users to take the trains. this is a signal that all the past efforts to ease road congestion with ERP and what not have been ineffective, such that it is imperative that people not only switch to public transport, but get off the roads altogether.

do they do it through train concessions? hell, that is not the singaporean way. public transport operators seem to have a need for the money.

the remainder of the circle line has almost been completely built. not only have the contracts for the downtown line already been awarded, construction has already begun (a long time ago).

the increased sunk costs come from the increase in the number of trains they are trying to put into service. it is my belief that train operators are already beyond the optimal level, any more 'business', the marginal returns are diminishing. this is unexpected from a train operator; the fixed cost of starting a train network is so high that you'd expect the returns, while (realistically) not constant, at least be stretched a bit longer.

in short, there are already too many people taking the trains. even more commuters would be a disaster.

we can only speculate because there has been no independent inquiry, no audit, nothing.

one only has an incentive to keep things hidden when there is something bad to hide. otherwise, he could only gain by coming clean.
 
Hello guys,

I'd just like to give my 2 cents if you folks don't mind. I know everyone thinks that the public transport fees in Singapore are ridiculous now. But let me put things into perspective here.

I've been living outside of Singapore for about 4 years now and I've learnt quite a bit from my experience. So I'm currently in the UK (Scotland to be exact) and I've been frequently using the public transport here. Let me crunch some numbers for everyone:

The minimum fare in a bus (there's no public train system here) is £1.25. That mean even if you want to go somewhere 1 bus-stop away that's how much you pay. Given the current exchange rate, that's equivalent to SGD 2.64981711. The price for a day pass which allows you to go on any number of bus rides for any number of times in a 24hour window is £3.00 which is equivalent to SGD 6.35956107. Moreover, the buses are mostly dirty and unmaintained. Bottomline is, the UK bus system pales in comparision in terms of passenger economic and social comfort.

Now, moving on to Toronto, Canada where I'm studying right now. They have a system of using a token which entitles you to go from anywhere to anywhere on the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission, SBS and SMRT equivalent). So, this allows you to make transfers from bus to train or vice-versa from anywhere within the Greater Toronto Area for CAD 3.00. So, the MINIMUM and MAXIMUM you have to pay is CAD 3.00 regardless of where you want to go. That is an equivalent SGD 3.94954484 . Now, that's pretty expensive if you ask me when compared to the SBS or SMRT. No? Moreover the TTC is probably the filthiest public transport system I've ever used. The trains and buses are absolutely filthy with litter in seats and spilt soft drinks on the floor. Escalators in stations rarely work and are always "under maintainence" and the attitude of the TTC employees is absolutely horrendous.

Also not to forget, people in these 2 countries have a tax rate of >40% and a shitty pension plan after retirement (although free healthcare is okay).

My point being, we Singaporeans have to broaden our outlook and see how people in other countries are living. Having been in Singapore all my life previously, I failed to appreciate how good it's public transport system was. Once you start living outside you'll start appreciating how good the system really is (This might only be my sentiment though). So, in conclusion we have to learn to live with it because it's not that bad!

Cheers,
Anirudh
 
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You forgot to mention how good the UK public medical care system is... Their tax did go into some areas to benefit their pple.

It's difficult to compare.

You'll be a happy man when you're back in S'pore, at least for the transport cost here.

Yep, it's not that bad in S'pore, becos it's only gonna get worse...
 
You need to mention how much more people in UK and US are paid. In America their minimum wage is much higher than Singapore's. Just a thought.
 
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