New transport minister Lui Tuck Yew is digging his own grave towards the next general election.
He is talking rubbish and seem like Raymond Lim is going to have a majong kaki real soon.
Ordinary people like me can't even make sense out of what the hell is this million dollar scholar minister trying to say.
'Serious downsides' to WP suggestion
Transport Minister says taxpayers, even those who do not take public transport, may end up paying more
Jul 14, 2011
Singapore - The Workers' Party's (WP) suggestion to nationalise public transport "might seem like a very attractive idea" but it has "serious downsides" in reality, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said yesterday.
Chief among these "downsides" is that "commuters and taxpayers - yes, even those who don't take public transport - are likely to end up paying more, and possibly, for a poorer level of service over time", Mr Lui added.
This is only HIS opinion and yet again we see the PAP using scare tactics tell you that YOU WILL PAY MORE even before studying how to implement this proposal.
Mr Lui's remarks on his Facebook page came a day after the WP reiterated its call for a National Transport Corporation.
The Transport Minister pointed out that, an entity that depends on Government funding and which operates on a cost-recovery basis, "would have little incentive to keep costs down".
Why can’t it be done? Just put the right person as the CEO and I am sure he can run the company well as a cost-recovery basis. Note the two companies currently are earning $161M and $54M profit and this a very big buffer.
Said Mr Lui: "Cost increases will be passed on to commuters. Over time, this will lead to higher costs for the same level of service, which means commuters pay higher - and not lower - fares. Not only would people have to pay more, nationalising the operators could result in a stagnation of service quality or efficiency over time."
Who is asking you to run the pubic transport company at a lost? You just have to operate it with minimum profit. In fact we have nothing to lose as now we are paying higher fare and no service.
Stagnation of service quality? Like PAP you meant? Bullshit lah! If quality drop just sacked the joker running the company and replaced with someone who can do it. I am sure you have lots of talented scholar in the civil service.
On Monday, SBS Transit and SMRT applied for the maximum increase of 2.8-per-cent for bus and rail fares. Responding to media queries, the WP reiterated on Tuesday its proposed transport body would not be driven by profit but would operate on a cost-recovery basis.
Mr Lui noted yesterday that "the profit incentive" of commercial enterprises "spurs efficiency and productivity improvements".
Huh? Now this Lui is really talking rubbish. Efficiency and productivity are method to increase profit, he don’t even mention service quality which I find is the most important factor in a service orientated company. Please don’t treat the public transport provided like a factory and commuter are just products.
Yes currently there are efficiency and productivity from the operator view point. By filling the bus and train to maximum capacity! This definitely improve the companies productivities.
While some have argued that the public transport operators should not be making high profits, Mr Lui said Singaporeans should also "recognise that as public-listed companies, it is not unreasonable for the (operators) to earn fair returns from the sizeable capital investments required to sustain their operations and to invest in future public transport needs".
So that is why we need to delist these companies and nationalised it! Are you listening to WP proposal at all Ah Lui? Or are you arguing for the sake or arguing?
A Ministry of Transport (MOT) spokesperson added yesterday that experience elsewhere has shown that privately operated public transport systems bring about greater efficiency. The spokesperson said: "This is why many cities around the world, like Melbourne, Tokyo, Stockholm and Seoul, either have or are moving towards commercial enterprises providing public transport services."
I don’t know about the rest but I can vouch that the Train service in Seoul is both CHEAP and efficient so how come ours are expensive, overcrowded and inefficient even thought it is a privatised company?
Mr Lui reiterated that commuters' interests are "safeguarded": A "robust framework" is in place to regulate bus and rail service levels through service quality and operating performance standards so that public transport operators do not pursue profit at the expense of commuters. Also, the Public Transport Council (PTC) regulates fares based on a fare adjustment formula that takes into account macro-economic factors, namely the Consumer Price Index and average national wage increases.
If the 10% of the (Like the minister who never take pubic transport) salaries skyrocked, this will bring the national average wage up and if we use this to justify public transport fare increase then it is both stupid and dumb. I suggest you take the average salary of the bottom 50% of the national as a benchmark to decide whether to increase the fare my folk.
"The fare adjustment formula protects commuters by capping fare increases - (public transport operators) are not free to simply pass on their cost increases to commuters," Mr Lui added.
Yes there is capping at each increase only. There is no cap on how often they can apply to increase.
While SBS Transit and SMRT have asked for the maximum fare increase this year, Mr Lui noted there have been some years when the PTC approved fare increases that have been less than what the public transport operators proposed. "We should let the PTC deliberate on this properly and make its decision," he added.
Please remind us when was the last time fare was reviewed and reduced? And of cause PTC have to wayang a bit to proved their existence.
On Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport chairperson Cedric Foo's call to relook the fare adjustment formula, the MOT spokesperson noted the fare formula "is not meant to be static".
In 2008, for example, the revised formula factored in higher productivity gains. This revised formula is valid until next year. "The PTC will review the fare adjustment formula for subsequent years bearing in mind the interests of commuters as well as the long-term viability of the public transport operators," the MOT spokesperson added.
With the Government investing another S$60 billion in new rail lines by the end of the decade, Mr Lui reiterated the Government's commitment to invest heavily in the public transport infrastructure. "Government funding of public transport infrastructure is a key reason why public transport fares continue to be affordable," he added.
