Transport Fare hikes, and comments dissected

Bus and train fares to rise by 1 to 3 cents in October
By Sng Li Wei and Ahmad Osman
Sep 12, 2006

Bus and train fares will go up by 1 to 3 cents per trip from October 1, but needy families would be given transport vouchers to help them adjust to the higher fares.

The Public Transport Council (PTC) approved the 1.7 per cent fare increase today. It is lower than last year's 2.4 per cent increase, which affected all fare categories.

Note that the report starts by telling you that needy families are being taken care of so as to alleviate claims of hardships. Also, the 1.7% rise is lower than the last 2.4%. Yah yah... 1.7% is the maximum allowed lah, you think we are stupid?

Nearly a quarter of commuters are expected to pay the same fares, while slightly more than a third will have to pay one cent more.

Standard and single ticket fares, however, will remain the same, as well as monthly concession fares for students and national servicemen.

A large proportion - three quarters of commuters - are expected to pay more.

Concession fares are not raised because of the fear of further uproar.

Since the number of people using single trip tickets are almost negligible and the majority are foreign visitors who don't own ez-link card, we shall not raise it to welcome foreign talents and blunt the edges of the expected criticisms.

Mr Gerard Ee, chairman of the PTC, said that in approving the fare increase, the Council had taken care to ensure that fares remain affordable for the majority of commuters, but it also recognised that needy families would need some help to adjust to the higher fares.

"I am heartened to hear thar the public transport operators will be contributing resources in the form of transport vouchers to help needy families in coping with the fare increase by defraying some of their costs," he said.

"This is part of the Government's 'Many Helping Hands' approach where the government, community and grassroots organisations and the private sector all chip in to help."
For those facing financial hardship, help is available from the Citizens' Consultative Committees (CCCs) under their CCC ComCare Fund, which has disbursed $1.95 million to 12,500 cases since it was launched in July last year. The National Trade Unions Congress's "NTUC Care and Share Vouchers" initiative also helps union members from low-income families.

Crap. So generic, I can also say.

SMRT Corporation and SBS Transit have also contributed $1 million for public transport vouchers which will be distributed by the CCCs in October to needy families.
The 1.7% increase in fares is the maximum allowed under the new fare adjustment cap formula implemented by the PTC last year, and is expected to bring in an additional $9.9 million for SBS transit, but the bus operator said it would only provide "partial relief for the incereased costs pressures", according to a Straits Times report.

For SBS alone, they will in additional $10 million, of which they will contribute about $500k to the transport vouchers, which brings us a total rate of about 5%. Are we really that stupid?

Oh, how come the details on application of vouchers are not publicised? If I read the papers and dunno how to apply for them, you expect the poor and needy who dun read the papers to have access to such information? Wayang!

Reacting to the fare increase, Mr Cedric Foo, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for transport, said that the fare increase "seems quite fair" in view of the 20 to 30 per cent rise in fuel cost, which accounts for 15 to 20 per cent of the public transport operators costs.

Interesting how operating costs increased by 15 - 20% but ComfortDelGro continues to post record profits year after year.

He also welcomed the help schemes for needy Singaporeans.

The GPC would look for a better measure than the returns on total assets of public transport operators currently used here as a yardstick for a fare hike, he told AsiaOne.

“We think there can be a better measure like total shareholder return which can be compared to that of the public transport operators in other major cities,” he said, adding that the GPC would also get feedback from transport economists, commuters and public transport operators to see how Singapore could continue to have a first rate infrastructure with fair and equitable distribution of the costs.

Oh yeah, increase the fares first then we review the total shareholder returns from other cities. I told you, buy SBS shares, and rejoice each time fare rises!

Mr Seah Seng Choon, executive director of the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) told AsiaOne that the increase "is affordable for most commuters."

He said: "Case is glad that there are schemes in place to help those in the low-income groups. We are also glad to note that concession pass holders are not affected by the increase.”

Case? What Case? No case lah.

Commuter Ms S. P. Chan, 52, a freelance writer, describing the increase as "reasonable", added: I hope the public transport companies will continue to strive to improve the public transport system. I also hope that hawkers will not use the fare hike as an excuse to jack up prices.”

I'm pretty sure I can find plenty of commuters who will give more pointed comments than "reasonable".