Look at todays CNA news... Look at its title "Commuters
generally welcome bus, train fare changes"
WTF...Of course, this coming from a reputable news
agency in Singapore, you will expect them to substantiate how they
derived at this conclusion, but they didnt.
THis is really strange because, either many of the people who are
unahppy are not commuters, or CNA have some really wrong method of
sampling.
THis is singapore, I remember sometime ago, some people say that in
this island of his, he can travel from east to west in 20mins? yes
since this island so small who the hell needs a transfer?
Guys if u dun tink this is blatant propaganda, I dunno what is.
SINGAPORE: Public response to the forthcoming public transport fare
adjustments has generally been positive.
But one transport analyst cautioned that there could be a higher
fare increase next year.
"Okay lah, what to do?" said a man, when asked about how he felt
about the fare adjustments. That generally summed up the sentiment
of most commuters.
While commuters welcomed the higher rebates for transfers to get to
their destinations, some said they would not mind paying more for
direct journeys as transfers are too troublesome.
"I don't really like taking multiple trips, because it wastes a lot
of time. So I'd rather pay a few cents more, take a direct trip,"
said a commuter.
Others felt that the fare hike came at a time when prices are
rising.
"I hope (they) don't increase anymore, because right now, (it is)
very hard to find (a) job, some of them (the people have) financial
problem also," said a Malay woman.
Concession fares for children and students will remain the same, as
will the cost of monthly passes for students and National
Servicemen. As for senior citizens, concession hours on weekdays
have been extended to include the evening rush hour for train
services run by SMRT.
"Sometimes, we go and visit our son, no need to rush to come back.
Save money also," said an old man.
The government and transport operators, SBS Transit and SMRT Corp,
are spending over S$5m to help low income families cope with the
fare hike. They have jointly set aside S$5.2 million to fund an
additional 130,000 public transport vouchers for low-income
families.
A transport analyst said that removing the transfer penalty is an
important step towards a hub-and-spoke transport system. But the
issue is how to split the cost between operators and
commuters.
"There's always some sharing of the burden, and there'll be winners
and losers. All of these numbers are relatively small, so the
winners are not big winners, and the losers are not big losers,"
said Professor Paul Barter from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public
Policy.
He noted that this year's inflation numbers will likely factor into
next year's fare review.
Prof Barter said: "One feature of the formula is that the inflation
that is put into the formula is last year's inflation. So we see
that the fare increase that was allowed this year is only 3 per
cent, and in actual fact the Public Transport Council has only
allowed 0.7 per cent on average.
"Because inflation has been higher this year, we would anticipate
that next year the formula may allow for a higher increase."
However he added that the burden of increase on commuters is likely
to remain low.
- CNA/ir
