SINGAPORE : It would take a further 1.5 percentage point hike in
GST if bus and train rides were to be made completely free
Transport Minister Raymond Lim revealed this at a dialogue
session with MacPherson residents on Sunday.
One resident at the session said: "(During) this tough and
uncertain period, I hope there will be no increase in transport
fares."
With leaner times ahead and recovery not yet in sight, public
transport fares — always a hot issue — dominated the
discussion.
And while Mr Lim is making no promises, he said he understands
ground concerns and pointed out that the Public Transport Council
will look carefully at economic conditions before considering any
increase.
But if things became really bad, will the government consider
subsidising public transport fares?
Mr Lim pointed out that even with subsidies, it will still be
the public which ends up paying.
Mr Lim elaborated: "There are only two persons who pay when it
comes to public transport fares. One, I use — I pay. Or two, I use
— you help me subsidise my ride. What happens when you subsidise my
rides? That means the taxpayers are now paying."
Going to the other end of the spectrum, if rides were to be made
completely free, that would impose a heavy tax burden on the
people, as it takes S$1.2 billion just to run the bus and train
systems annually.
Mr Lim said: "The money still must come from somewhere, right?
It is about a 1.5 percentage point increase of your GST. So, now it
is 7%. You want it to be free, do you want the GST to go up to 8.5%
to run a completely free bus and train system?"
But with oil prices — which operators traditionally cite as one
of their high cost factors — dropping significantly in recent
months, why have bus fares not come down in tandem?
Mr Lim explained: "This is because the public transport fare is
not directly linked to the oil prices. We link it to national
factors, like the inflation level in Singapore, and the wage level
in the whole of Singapore."
Moving to a cheaper form of transport, one resident asked: "I
would like to know... whether we are having, in the near future, a
pro—bicycle government policy, where it can provide shady bicycle
tracks all over the island."
For now, Mr Lim said using two—wheelers as a form of transport
is good for just intra—town travel. And it cannot be applied
uniformly across the island but has to be adapted for different
communities.
Apart from Tampines, authorities are also looking at Yishun and
Sembawang for pilot cycling projects.
MacPherson is a constituency which has a high number of compact
high—rise HDB flats, and a population that has a higher proportion
of the elderly above the age of 50 who are more likely to be from
the lower household income group.
It is not surprising then that not just public transport fares
but also other cost of living issues that dominated the dialogue
session. These included questions on whether costs of goods and
services are expected to come down during this recession.
Another topic touched on was that of foreigners working in
Singapore. One issue raised was whether the policy of letting
foreign workers go first should also apply at the management
level.
Mr Lim pointed out that this differs from company to company,
and depends on how badly the particular company needed the special
skill sets of those management staff. — CNA/ms
what nonsense is he sprouting? who is asking for free transport?
we are asking them not to hike the fares!
