There is a saying, nothing in life is certain except death and taxes. Adapted from this very true saying: nothing in Singapore is certain except death, taxes, and bus fare increase adjusment. anyway here's the full article fyi:
Adult EZ-link fares for buses up from October
By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 11 September 2007 1221 hrs
SINGAPORE : Adult EZ-link fares for buses will increase by between one and two cents from 1 October.
Senior citizen concessionary EZ-link bus fares, which are flat fares pegged to the lowest adult fare band, will go up by two cents.
But the Public Transport Council (PTC) has decided there will be no increase in train fares.
It said the public transport operators had applied for an increase in bus and rail fares in August 2007.
After deliberating on their proposals, it approved an overall fare increase of 1.8 per cent for bus fares, but no increase for rail fares this year.
Gerard Ee, Chairman, Public Transport Council, says: "The formula is very simple. It takes into account two very important factors - the Consumer Price Index and the average wage increase. Based on that, if you look at economic growth in Singapore, it has been on the uptrend, it has improved.
"If you look at the affordability factor, that has also improved, the figures have come down to 6.5 per cent. That means that of the households being tracked, about 6.5 per cent of their incomes are being spent on public transport. So based on these two factors which are prescribed by the framework, we ought not to resist awarding 1.8 percent increase in fares."
The PTC added that the majority of commuters will see no increase or a small rise in fares.
Taking into account all public transport trips, five in ten trips will see no increase while one in ten trips will see a rise of one cent.
The remaining four in ten trips will see an increase of two cents per trip.
The last time the PTC approved an increase in bus and MRT train fares was in October last year when they went up by between one and three cents.
The Council introduced a new set of performance standards in 2006 and has tightened it further this year.
Mr Ee says: "That's the reason why we are insisting that during the peak periods when commuters are most in a hurry to get to their destination, the headway has to be reduced from 15 minutes to ten minutes, knowing that it requires the bus operators to put in more buses on the roads, that's why we have allowed them two years to achieve it.
"So you can see SBS Transit in addition to existing commitments have committed a further S$145 million for 400 new buses which should be in place by 2008. All these new introductions must surely benefit the commuters."
The government and the public transport operators SMRT Corporation and SBS Transit have set aside S$3 million in public transport vouchers to help needy families cope with the latest fare increase.
The government will draw down S$2.4 million from the Public Transport Fund, which was set up to provide help to lower-income households on their public transport costs. The public transport operators on their part have set aside S$0.6 million.
Cedric Foo, Chairman, GPC for Transport, says: "I am pleased that for the first time since the fare adjustment formula was introduced back in 2005, the Council has not approved any fare increase for rail transport. That's a good outcome.
"One of the features which I would have preferred not to have happened is (the hike in) the senior concession fare. That would be subject to increase along with the other bus fare increases. Senior commuters would be one group of people who would be least able to afford any increases." - CNA/ir/ch Let me just give u some official numbers:
The SMRT has announced a profit after tax of $135.8m for financial year 2007, an increase of 31% from the previous year.
In the years 2003 to 2007, SMRT’s profit after tax are as follows:
2007 = $135.8m
2006 = $103.6m
2005 = $126.6m
2004 = $90.2m
2003 = $72.2m
For SBS Transit, its profit after tax for the years 2003 to 2006 are as follows (obtained from its website):
2006 = $56.1m
2005 = $51.5m
2004 = $49.2m
2003 = $19mok enough facts and figures, time for my comments. well if anyone of you has ever taken a bus, i guess u should have pretty much your own set of complaints. smelly bus, MIA bus, old bus etc. over the years i have accumulated soooo much animosity toward buses that i don't even know where to start. 1. there was this once i was waiting for bus service 67, and 3 or 4 of every other bus passed, 1 hr passed, and still no bus in sight! Lo and behold, 3 67s came aft tt! and while i was sitting on the 67 of my choice, all FOUR other 67s overtook my crawling bus. this is by far, my worst bus experience ever. i was super late, i was slower than 4 of my buses, and i'll never forget this.2. do u only travel downtown? then u must see all the beautiful, fully air-conditioned buses, some even handicap-friendly! wow! many a tourist must think that Singapore has superb bus service and quality! bullshit! during my army days (which wasn't long ago), i took this bus service 182, non air-con, smelly, in fact i could see that it was a bloody used 170! how? the posters stated 'pls remember to stamp your passports after alighting at the causeway' or something along that line. ok i know that 182 mainly serves the Bangladeshi workers in Tuas and the odd army personnel, but c'mon, couldn't u all even have bothered to take down that stupid notice? plus, the cuhions of some seats were tore off, windows were spoilt, it was a sorry sight well confined to the depths of Tuas.3. vibrating and super hot buses. there're some of these buses (mainly SMRT's fleet in my experience) that suffer from these symptoms. when it comes to a stop, the bus will vibrate like nobody's business. brrrrr brrrrrrr brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. and sometimes if u happen to sit right at the back, your legs will be treated to a free suana from the engine. seriously there were a few times i happened to sit right at the back, and my legs were sweating within 5 min. ok there're millions of other bad personal bus experiences but i'm gonna limit it to these 3. so i'm just curious, what justifies the fucking fare hike adjusment!it's not like the bus companies were losing money, and they're not even earning less! their earnings just go up and up and up. just look at my figures provided. why am i so pissed at bus fare hikes u may ask. 'c'mon la 1 2 cents only' but it's not the money, it's the principle. if there were better service, more buses available aft fare hikes it may appease people somewhat. but i've never experienced any significant increase in service standards after ANY price hike. nope none at all. what is my main issue? u don't see me bitching about McDonald's increasing its prices every once in a while. because i can simply chooose NOT to eat there. I have a bloody choice. if any other thing increases price, i can simply DON'T BUY. but bus? how? walk ah? take cab ah? buy car?? this is one serious problem of monopolization. people don't have alternatives and have to just accept whatever the monopoly decides on. it was like Singtel a couple of years ago, when they were the only telco provider, and they charged exhorbitant prices for their mobile services. in came M1 and Starhub, and how much are your bills now per month? look, not everyone can afford the fare increase. there are needy and poorer families out there, where every cent counts. and you bloody companies aren't losing money at all, you just want more fucking millions! and u think this goes to the poor bus driver... well you can make your own deductions.BUT ANYWAY, you all know what will happen, as with EVERY other pay hike. - pay increase announced.- people not happy, company already earning still increase. - go all ape-crazy in blogs, forums, coffeeshops, newspapers and complain and give their 2 cents worth (no need give 2 cents worth, next time a lot of 2 cent to give everytime you take bus).- 'relavant authorities' will fight back and justify increase by giving some figures and about rising oil prices, gst, employees wages blaa blaa blaa.- they will 'offer help' to the needy and maybe give the needy $1 million out of the $25 million they'll be earning (figures are estimated).- increase will go on as planned and people will forget about it.- next pay increase will be announced and whole cycle starts again.what to do? as a very popular army phrase goes 'lan lan suck thumb lor'.Labels: bus, fare, hike, increase, SBS, SMRT, train, transport
edwardsam
9/12/2007 11:18:00 AM
