As i observe, they get the priorities wrong !
To really make meaningful sense, the fares have to reflect the
level of 'doorstep-ness' & comfort & convinence levels
offered to commutors, besides the issues of travelling times
!
Taking the car (hence taxi) as the ultimate form of personal
transport (since it excels in most if not all of the above
qualities !) then logically it'll have to cost the most to use it.
Therefore i've no issue with taxi fares being much higher than bus
or train fares.
Next down the line of personal transport appeal would have to be
the bus (minibuses too) BEFORE the train, since it's well known by
now that train travel tend to involve plenty of walking up &
down in & out of stations, with lower chances of getting any
seat & even if there's a seat, it's a hard seat instead of a
more normal car-like seat with cushioning etc. !! Furthermore,
trains do NOT tend to offer doorstep-like levels of service as well
as the bus or taxi can (in that order) !
Therefore taking all these factors into consideration, it's only
perfectly logical that train fares HAVE to be priced cheaper than
bus fares, NOT the same level (they simply don't deserve that level
of 'status') & most sensibly NOT MORE than bus fares !!!!
As a commutor, i'm not interested to know if it really costs more
to operate a train service due to any higher overheads from
infrastructure &/or equipment costs etc., especially when you
have the situation nowadays whereby the same operator who runs bus
services ALSO runs train services ! I expect them to price their
bus & train fares such that the bus revenue HAVE to generate
higher profits (than train revenue) to cover any losses or lower
profits from the train operations. That's because the social costs
(due to traffic congestion, vehicle exhaust & noise pollutions
etc.) of operating the bus services may be higher compared to
trains but infrastructural & equipment costs of bus operations
tends to be lower than for trains, thereby also a factor (besides
what i've mentioned in the paragraphs above !) which can & have
to result in higher profits for bus operations compared to train
operations !
Originally posted by thinker:
SINGAPORE : The Public Transport Council has approved fare
increases for trains and buses from [b]July.
Bus and train fares can go up by 10 cents across the board.
This is if commuters pay cash.
However, if they use ez-link link cards, fares will
increase by one to two cents for buses and one to three cents for
trains.
Student fares and prices of student and NS men concession passes
will not be increased.
Senior citizens will, however, be affected by this increase.
[/b]
