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PAP Smear!
Posts : 4
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"But this time, about four in 10 commuters will not need to pay more or might just end up spending less, according to the Public Transport Council (PTC).This is due to the 15-cent increase in transfer rebate from the current 25 cents to 40 cents, which translates to greater savings for journeys with more transfers."
Sugar coating your words? Who are you kidding? Pay more for public transport and getting taxed at every ERP gantry with more gantries. Lose-lose for everyone it seems (W or W/O own vehicle).
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PAP Smear!
Posts : 4
Location : N/A
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Anonymous said :
Straits Times should STOP twisting the facts about the latest fare hike. Despite all the spin ST put in its articles, the public is NOT fooled an iota. The majority commuters pay more for fares with the latest hike. There is absolutely no argument about that!!
ST should stop insulting our intelligence by implying otherwise. I'm so sick of ST's subtle brainwashing.
SPH controls the The Straits Times and all the rest of the paper media. SPH is under Temasek holdings and so does Mediacorp. Can you guess who is controlling Temasek? The whole nation media outlet are control by them, they can say anything they want. Sugar coating everything, half truth and more lies. Everyone should know this by now, this is not a conspiracy theory or anything, just imagine what you can do to a nation if you can make them believe in you. Spoon feeding us and telling us everything is ok when it is not. When the last time you hear a PAP member did something wrong in the papers? Never! Well the opposition haha, they are being steamrolled over.There's no opposition it's just a facade!
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Black Knight
Posts : 22
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The problem in the US is still in the mode of resolution by the US gov. It's good so far. Saving Fannie and Freddie, then now AIG. The question now is why not Lehman? If we notice, the US gov only comes in where the failure of a business will hv wide impact on the US mkt. Fannie & Freddie, if I get the reports right, has a mortgage mkt size of 70%. As for AIG, the businesses are so extensive that its failure will also impact Us mkt widely. Hence, it is good Lehman was let go for folding up.
The effort so far by the US gov is to ensure stability. As with Fed Reserve's extending credit to AIG too, having the same purpose. This kind of efforts will continue until an equilibrium is striked between housing affordability with the housing price. Being an economy based on consumption, the affordability of the US consumer is very important. This gives us an alarming signal, not just in the US, but all over the world. This signal is the importance of wealth sharing. Business cannot continue expecting that wealth creation must always go to their shareholders/the rich. The wealth created must also be distributed to the middle and lower class. As these are where the major consumption is generated. Similarly, the reason of why here in S'pore, the general feedback from the ground that S'pore gov did not do enough to cap inflation. Wealth distribution is very important. If wealth is always generated for only a specific class of pple, problems will eventually emerge. This inbalance of wealth distribution would erodes affordability of the middle and lower class. And now, the US sub prime mortgage issue is what that's haunting the global mkt. Such inbalance would eventually leads either to social unrest or calls for change. We already had been watching the drama that's happening up north. Will we see one here in S'pore?
Hopefully, this signal is being seen by the gov and not be blinded by any other so called analysis that cover up this important reason. Addressing this issue will be very important. If gov is always siding the businesses for more profit growth instead of monitoring this inbalance. Pple will exercise their power in the next election in the bid for a change. The recent being the bus fare increase AGAIN! As if there's totally zero profits gained by these public transport operators.
CAN WE ACCEPT THAT?
Well, just my humble Opinion
Adios
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Anonymous
Posts : 2251
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Everytime someone ask for opinion, a lot of people on the ground give and give .
But alas , everytime the people on the ground are disappointed.
I just hope this is not my percetion of things happening.
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Anonymous
Posts : 2251
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firstly i just want to say that i'm quite disappointed that majority of the replies posted are complaints out of this discussion. Actually, i think we should show our creativity in solving such problems. (so that the govt don't have to apply the "last resort" solution, increase fares/taxes/ERP charges)
for me i, humbly, just want to state some observations and make some recommendations.
Our Roads are getting choked
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i have observed, as many commuting Singaporeans would agree, that our roads are getting choked. Congestion is really getting worse. People need to get to work on time. Students need to get to school on time. Instead, the country's productivity suffers when workers are stuck in traffic jams. Students have to wake up earlier to get to school on time, even though they have been burning the midnight oil the previous night, studying. Green house gases output increase as more vehicles spend time on the road stuck in jams.
Car Ownership Policies have to be re-looked into
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There are just too many cars on the road. While sitting in the bus stuck in a traffic jam, i looked out the window and into other cars. Most of the time, it's just a single driver. Car ownership policies have to be re-looked into. True, every Singaporean aspire to own a car. And denying the dream should be a cardinal sin. But he/she also wants congestion free roads to drive the car in. Wouldn't the experience of having a car be spoilt if one has to face traffic jams everyday?
And so do public transport commuters. They also want the journey to work/school to be congestion free and as reliable as possible. Sure there are bus lanes. But as a bus-rider, i have observed chokepoints/bottlenecks in the road network that has no bus lane and hinders the integrity of the bus schedule. For e.g. the entrance of AYE from clementi avenue 6. Being stuck there extends my travelling time from half to one hour. And the major reason as to why roads are choked and travelling times get longer is that more and more cars are pouring into our roads!
Decrease the number of cars. Please?
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Solution. Decrease the number of cars. So that they will be less congestions. Less congestions means better travel times for public transport and thus more commuters will be attracted to take public transport. With increased ridership, transport companies will actually see growth and rake in more profits. So they don't have to increase fares to increase their bottom line for their shareholders.
So what about the dream of every Singaporean to own a car. I'd say it'll will be a dangerous spiral. With cheaper cars, commuters will shun public transport. Ridership will decrease. Service standards will drop as the transport companies struggle with negative growth and shrinking bottom line. And fares will increase ever more. Thus more people will shun public transport. Eventually, no one will want to take public transport.
Let's be frank here, Singapore has limited space. It cannot afford to turn in to one giant carpark. Singapore's economic strength depends greatly on how uncongested its road infrastructure is. Supporting car ownership and promoting public transport usage is oxymoronic.
Big oil companies should be the main sponsors for free public transport!!!
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I admit, unclogging the roads might bring up the ridership in public transport by only a little. But nothing brings up ridership better than FREE transportation. And where do we find the money to fund it? Not from the govt pockets, of course. But from big and generous sponsors. Public transport companies should reconsider their business model. And they should expand their marketing division to source for more advertising dollars. And most of that should come from Big Oil Companies.
Big oil companies are always talking about social responsibility and giving back to the community and how they support environmental causes. Provide this chance for these companies to show how much they care/put the money where their mouth is. By subsidizing/sponsoring public transport, they will show that they care about the society which depend greatly on public transportation. They will also show that they are working towards reducing environmental damage by encouraging the use of public transportation. And this, if successfully implemented, will obviously solve the ever-present problem of transport fare hikes.
Introducing car-pool lane
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One way to decrease the number of cars on the road, other than increasing the taxes, is to encourage car-pooling. currently, there isn't any incentive for car-users to car-pool. I was wondering why we do not implement a car-pool lane just like in the States. If implementing car-pool lanes is unfeasible just let car-pool users drive in the current bus lanes. This is one way to make better use of our under-utilized bus lanes.
Let private operators join in
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There have been many instances that bus commuters could only get on the third or fourth bus due to the buses being full. But i also understand public transport operators could only deploy so many buses from their fleet. They also have to balance their fleet size so that they can handle peak demand as well as not having to many idle buses in the bus interchanges during low-peak periods. So, my suggestion is to let private operators jointly operate some of the popular routes to handle peak demand. This is indeed a chance for the private bus business to grow their pie.
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Anonymous
Posts : 2251
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DO YOU KNOW WHY WE JUST COMPLAINT ???
THE MAIN REASON IS WHATEVER POLICY LAUNCH IS BASED ON WHAT THEY WANT AND NOT WHAT WE WANT .
Our Roads are getting choked
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THIS IS BECUASE :-
*THEY NEED THE REVENUE EVEN TOUGH THEY SAY IT IS PEANUTS ////
COE
TAX ON CARS
ROAD TAX
PETROL TAX
BUSINESS TAX THAT EARN FROM TRANSPORT RELATED ENTITIY..
YOU RECOMMENDATION WILL NEVER BE RECOMMENDED :-
1) LOST OF REVENUE IS NEVER IN THE VOCABULARY
2)BIG OIL COMPANIES HAS ALREADY HUGH OIL TAX 43CENTS PER DOLLAR.
3) CAR POOLS WILL NEVER WORK AS IT WILL NOT BE PROMOTED . ALSO CAR OWNERS WILL NOT AGREE. WHO IN THE WORLD IS GOING TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER 3 PASSENGERS TO GO ANYWAY ??
HOWEVER , YOUR 3RD OPTION IS THE CORRET. INTRODUCING PRIVATE OPERATORS.
BUT HAVE YOU READ WHAT THE PARTY REPLY ??
THE MODEL IS NEVER CONSIDERED AS THE QUALITY AND CONTROL OF SERVICE IS NOT GURANTEED ???
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Anonymous
Posts : 2251
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1) Roads getting choked
All i'm saying is that we should switch back to taxing car ownership instead(just like what TheOnlineCitizen suggested). Once a person owns a car, one feels compelled to use it frequently, even with ERP cropping up everywhere. Taxing car usage is useless in relieving congested roads. It's only a temporary measure. Soon the jams will return.
From the govt point of view, there is no lost of revenue here. just switch back to taxing car ownership, please.
2) Sponsor, not tax...there's a difference
I'm not suggesting taxing the Big Oil Companies further. Actually, I didn't know they were so heavily taxed in the first place. However, what I'm recommending is to offer them a chance to do good for social and environmental causes. And I'm sure they'll relish that chance. The 43% tax can stay, for all I care. But the public relations department of those companies should actually consider this considering how much flak they take for having windfall profits from the increasing price of oil.
3) Car pool >LANES<
of course car-pooling is too bothersome for most drivers. I'm suggesting having _dedicated lanes_ for car-poolers to provide incentive for drivers to car-pool. how is this an incentive? dedicated lanes lets you drive past jams. and as I've said in my previous post, let carpool users use bus lanes if the addition of carpool lanes is unfeasible.
4) Private operators
What constitutes a high service standard for a transport service? It's high frequency and reliability. I'm not suggesting private operators take over whole routes. It's too much to ask from them. But they can _supplement_ public buses during peak demand. To put it simply. If your usual bus no. XX is late, private buses can pick up the slack. Seriously, waiting for the next bus XX because i didn't manage to squeeze in the one that arrived just pisses me off, especially when i'm already late. Even if i do manage to get on board, it would be a heck of a squeeze.
It would be almost a "godsend", if a private bus comes just after and picks up those left behind and bring us to work/school on time. Hence, introducing private operators on public bus routes will in fact, increase service standards-not decrease them because frequency and reliability will increase without additional burden to public transport operators.
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Anonymous
Posts : 2251
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The question is whether there will be improvements to the trains and bus services. I have yet to see improvements to our bus services even after the numerous fare increases over the years. I can give 1 example of a bus that would fail every established KPI. I refer to SBS no. 112. This bus is erratic and covers a roundabout route much like a feeder bus. At times the wait will be up 30 mins if u miss the last bus. Does this sound logical or synonymous with an efficient system? Often, my family walk, take a cab or drive instead. what does this say about the transportation system? I can name another half-dozen buses that also fail to meet KPIs. Will the fare increase improve the frequency of buses, increase seating capacity or address any other complaints from the public? If it has not been addressed in the past why should we be optimistic about the future. I plan to write in to my MP about the 'service' bus no.112 provides anyway. Its no wonder more people are taking the Mrt leading to crowds on trains.
Perhaps its time to open up the transportation sector like in HK. Consumers need variety and only competition can improve SBS. I hope the Govt & PTC will stop protecting the interests of SBS and take care of the interests of the people instead. Increase in fares should lead to improvements in service. If that target(in terms of service standards) cannot be met, the service provider should be penalised by having the fares revised back to previous levels as a punishment.
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Anonymous
Posts : 2251
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Oh, I do think they introduce other private companies > Premium service bus and of course, it costs more.
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Anonymous
Posts : 2251
Location : N/A
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We'll be fined $20 for cheating on fare or not paying fare. We should be paid $20 refund if they overcharged us or their air-con is not working or not cold enough. As it's as good as cheating us, paying for air-con services, but getting sauna instead. No windows to open to let air rush in.
How about it Public Transport Provider, fair deals?
Can't be always punishing the commuters only. If you are suppose to provide air-con service, please ensure the air-con is in working condition or else withdraw from service. It's a pure case of cheating the commuters and we have got no chance of getting a redress.
2 ways fine.
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