SBS Transit's Actions Contradicts Government Policy

last SG · 2008-03-11T22:29:18+00:00

Nationalising... Simply make profit, profit goes to govt? lose money increase tax rate to keep up the bus service? at the same time, ads revenue make up at l...

eagle SG

you sure when there's no goal to be achieved?

Those places I've been like Melbourne, when bus svs are state controlled, the scheduled freq can be like 60 mins

Same for germany, scheduled freq can be 2 hrs on weekends. But it is in their culture not to travel far on weekends; weekends are to rest.

However, their buses timings are so accurate that it will come within 5 mins (5 mins considered bad already) of the specified timing. You can literally plan your journey to a resolution of 5 minutes, and if you are just a bit late, you will miss your bus or train.

sbst275 SG

erm

Neither does a monopoly has much of that incentive to become more efficient.

not efficient?

at least they never talk about using your tax payers money to cross subsidise

sbst275 SG

Same for germany, scheduled freq can be 2 hrs on weekends. But it is in their culture not to travel far on weekends; weekends are to rest.

how are the operators going to be able to plan the schedule accurately here when taken into consideration of freak incidents like ytd's Loyang accident tat ended up Loyang Ave closed?

eagle SG

not efficient?

at least they never talk about using your tax payers money to cross subsidise

no they don't. They talk about increasing price of goods and services instead. Ultimately, the money still comes from you. They can do this easily because the demand for their services is equal to the market demand for this particular service. In addition, demand for public transport are usually very inelastic; they can raise the price and the demand would not change much.

eagle SG

how are the operators going to be able to plan the schedule accurately here when taken into consideration of freak incidents like ytd's Loyang accident tat ended up Loyang Ave closed?

I'm talking about bus bunching even when there no freak incidents. I've no idea why you would include one-off events when I'm talking about everyday events. In Germany, you will never see bus bunching even if they are scheduled to come at 10 minutes interval. If they are scheduled to come at 10 minutes interval, they will come at 10 minutes interval, even if the bus travels between cities.

sbst275 SG

you are lucky they're not like SIA charging fuel surcharge from you when oil prices jump.. in the first place, fares are regulated

you think they're not affected by oil price hike? last time 1l of diesel cost like 60c, now it's $1.20... so wat, you asking govt to subisidise them fuel to keep cost low?

baby hunter SG

Same for germany, scheduled freq can be 2 hrs on weekends. But it is in their culture not to travel far on weekends; weekends are to rest.

precisely, but they din use these as a excuse to increase the fare!! ( I was there for two yrs )

But what's is our public bus service now?? they always complaint that cost is going up, by bringing more aircon bus, install mobTv, create better system for bus timing accuratecy......worse is oso complaining profit dropping ( fact is still making 60million a yr ) so that need to increase the fare...

eagle SG

you are lucky they're not like SIA charging fuel surcharge from you when oil prices jump.. in the first place, fares are regulated

you think they're not affected by oil price hike? last time 1l of diesel cost like 60c, now it's $1.20... so wat, you asking govt to subisidise them fuel to keep cost low?

We are not talking about fuel, but rather, efficiency.

baby hunter SG

you are lucky they're not like SIA charging fuel surcharge from you when oil prices jump.. in the first place, fares are regulated

you think they're not affected by oil price hike? last time 1l of diesel cost like 60c, now it's $1.20... so wat, you asking govt to subisidise them fuel to keep cost low?

now we're talking public bus service, NOT SIA lah...

fuel surcharge is apply to all airline, not only SIA.

sbst275 SG

precisely, but they din use these as a excuse to increase the fare!! ( I was there for two yrs )

Does that country subsidise public tpt?

Do you know how ex can a bus cost now to make it wheelchair accesible? It cost $1m for a double deck, $300k for a single deck...

I'm saying this the very last time, TV Mobile belongs to MediaCorp

$60m a year? Then why aren't you ranting why petrol prices going up when oil cartels are making BILLIONS

sbst275 SG

now we're talking public bus service, NOT SIA lah...

fuel surcharge is apply to all airline, not only SIA.

Nvm... full stop

Nationalise, any losses the most we pay 50% income tax to subsidise this subsidise that

sbst275 SG

We are not talking about fuel, but rather, efficiency.

efficiency?

packed buses? do you know commuters are 100% gulity of creating a false impression of packed buses which ends up buses delayed all because ppl refusing to move in.. I dunno how many times I've to shout for ppl to move in when I see ppl refusing to move in

everything blame operator, when you can't even blame commuters for not cooperating

eagle SG

efficiency?

everything blame operator, when you can't even blame commuters for not cooperating

So you don't see it as a failure in logistics planning when the bus is packed so full that remaining passengers cannot get up?

So you see being efficient as packing the bus to the fullest like a can of sardines when moving off so that the cost vs revenue ratio is lower, at the expense of consumer comfort?

Mind you, this is public transport; public service.

maurizio13 SG

you sure when there's no goal to be achieved?

Those places I've been like Melbourne, when bus svs are state controlled, the scheduled freq can be like 60 mins

Poor management, not a result of profits.

Profits will only improve performance only if it's a perfectly competitive industry.

For the transport companies where it's more like a monopoly (where Temasek controls all),

there is no incentive for them to improve performance, because they have market power, all that is

needed is for them to raise prices, commuters have no other alternatives.

Don't forget you are also comparing a city (Melbourne) with a big geographical dispersion as compared to Singapore.

I look at the list of bus companies in Melbourne, there are public and private ones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Melbourne_bus_routes

maurizio13 SG

sbst275,

Ask yourself this question.

If you own and control all the transport companies in Singapore.

What's the best way to make more profits?

Increase the price of fares or increase efficiency?

If you increase efficiency by running more buses in those routes,

you will run up more expense for the company.

If you increase fares, you will get more profits, you can pack

up buses like sardines, you will make more money.

sbst275 SG

Another thing

Advertisment revenue account for almost 60% of SBS's profit

eagle SG

Another thing

Advertisment revenue account for almost 60% of SBS's profit

How is advertising related to efficiency of bus services?

maurizio13 SG

Another thing

Advertisment revenue account for almost 60% of SBS's profit

More importantly.

Do you understand that the employment of China bus drivers

will increase the income gap between the rich and the poor further?

Let's say Singapore is an economy of 100 citizens.

Say the economy is fully employed, all 100 citizens have jobs,

then one day 5 citizens decided to resign from their clerical positions

and 5 citizens decided to resign from their jobs as "bus captains".

The 5 bus drivers want to take up clerical positions, the 5 clerical

officers want to remain in clerical line (just not in their previous company),

nobody wants to go into bus driving they feel that the pay is too low.

The bus company decides to outsource to China because manpower is cheaper,

ends up employing 5 bus drivers from China.

Then the 5 clerical positions that was vacant will be competed by 10 citizens.

Each of the 10 try to price themselves lower than the other so they can

gain employment.

Ultimately, the lower income earners end up with lower pay.

Therefore increasing the income gap (Gini Coefficient) further.

holygoh SG

Just two questions:
If you can earn 1k to 1.2k by being a sales person at a departmental store from 10am to 9pm, would you prefer to earn 1.6k by driving constantly on the road in a big and bulky vehicle?

Or if your daily net income is around $50 to be a taxi driver, also driving on the road the whole day like the bus driver, would you want to be a bus driver?

sometimes decisions like these are not so simple lor. if i am a 50 yr old pot belly uncle that speaks only broken english, even if i want to work as a sale assistant in taka or isetan, no one will hire me! hehe. again, how come we can so easily empathise with why CEO's and companies need to make millions to survive. but so hard to empathise with the hardships of ordinary uncles and aunties...

baby hunter SG

if they have will to think...they will never be a biz man liao...

take my in law for example, he's been working for translink (SBS) as a driver for 27 yrs. now driving bus 197 from Jurong east to Bedok ( abt 4 hrs through & flow ). need to wake up 3:45am & leave the hse by 4:30am in order to catch the company transport if he's in morning shift.

due to his age is catching up, physically no longer as good as those young driver. it is quite tough for him to drove for long hr & longer distance. Hence, he did approvch the management, ask for transfer to those shorter distance or those feeder bus. He even dont mind to have a pay cut. but was rejected by the management. ( no reason given ).

so...put him to no chioce, he's thinking of retire next yrs ( he kn himself cant coop with it anymore..). &....he's only 60 next year......if the coy allow his transfer, properly he will work for another 5 yrs. till the official retire age.

so...do u guy think, will the bus company ever think of these? they only kn complaining cant get driver, they never think y.

sometimes is nt only the pay, is the system, is the flexibility, is the welfare that dr ppl aways.....

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