competition for the sake of competition (esp. in a small market
like ours) is self-destructive.
the tv stations may be one example with both bleeding millions over
the past four years. for a business, the bottomline
(profits/losses) is the priority.
another example would be the low-cost carriers...tiger,airasia,
jetstar asia, valuair (even though not strictly lcc), thai airasia,
merpati, lion air......good for consumers initially, but from the
examples in europe, unsustainable in the long run and leading to
company closure and job losses. lccs are willing to undercut even
the cost price of a seat to "compete" with rivals. probably
strategically competitive, but financially ruinous.
having said that, i think the present situation is just nice...both
smrt and sbstransit are still making profits *overall*. we still
have some choice. my mom remembers a time when there was NO
tibs...people were simpler then..they just wanted to get from point
A to point B...without arguing over whether there was a monopoly or
not, or competition for the sake of competition.