ST Forum 24 Apr 07
AS A commuter relying solely on public transport, I support the
proposal put up by the chairman of ComfortDelGro with regard to the
'mega-merger' of SMRT and ComfortDelGro to create a single
public-transport group. My reasons:
Singapore needs a fully and effectively integrated public-transport
system for maximum efficiency and economy of scale, to benefit both
the commuter and the operator.
The current operators have reached a plateau in trying to improve
operational efficiency further without being able to satisfy the
needs of commuters where waiting time, overcrowding, frequency of
both scheduled buses and trains are concerned, as well as the need
to change mode of transport more than once.
Geographically, Singapore is too small to have two companies to
provide a cost-effective, well-integrated public-transport
system.
There are just too many buses on the road every day due to the
proliferation of services, causing traffic jams and pollution. With
the revamp, this can be greatly improved with fully coordinated
integration by one operator.
With full integration, many benefits will be realised, such as more
cost-effective utilisation of buses/trains, higher occupancy,
better 'frequency' reliability, shorter commuting time and better
public safety at the MRT stations as more funds can be made
available to install safety gates at the open MRT stations.
Also, with just one larger public-transport operator, a stronger
spin-off capability can be developed to create an offshore
corporation for global expansion, to operate similar
public-transport systems as part of wealth creation to enhance the
group's bottom line.
Steven Foo Say Chew
Does all of you support the merger? Will there be monolopy of
transportation again?