SBS Transit, SMRT submit applications for fare adjustment

[limlim]

3Boys:

Cor...you are making this personal, aren't you? What do you know about him, why do you think he would not understand profits?

snowman actually made a pretty objective post. Keep posting, my young friend, don't be disheartened by bashing!

Objective, maybe, but totally missing the point..

Overcrowded trains, unsatisfactory service quality, 200+ mil profits and asking to raise fares.

If the company is facing financial difficulties, we would all be interested to listen abt the challenges, how difficult it is to sustain the biz, what are the constraints, and how to justify the fare hike.. any maybe support them..

But now, no.. it is just a typical expression of greed knows no boundaries.

[limlim]

snowman.697:

1. fare keeps rising and we dont enjoy our ride

Are you trying to say that No amount of engineering can prevent FARE INCREMENT?

Oh.. well.. Sorry, I couldn't find it in the WOT.. if there is any argument for it..

Note, I'm not talking about how to solve the overcrowded train problem.. It is a tough engineering problem, no issues with your reasoning on that.

I'm talking about greed, public transport, obligations, system.

[limlim]

snowman.697:

SMRT trains do not buy trains. SMRT trains have no right to buy trains. LTA buys the trains. SMRT trains do not install platform screen doors. SMRT trains has no right to install platform screen doors. LTA installs platform screen doors. To make my point straight, SMRT trains only manages the operation and maintenance of the EXISTING system. SMRT Buses is a totally different case.

SMRT applied for fare increment (despite unsatisfactory level of service).

Tough engineering problem difficult to solve.. accepted.. But shamelessly asking for fare increment despite problems not solved? unacceptable..

[limlim]

ChiefKiasu:

Dear limlim, while we encourage open sharing and debates on ideas and concepts, please focus on either supporting or arguing against the ideas, and disassociate the person from the idea.

Any attack on the person making the ideas is considered a personal attack and will only serve to stifle constructive discussions.

overreacted perhaps..

What I'm trying to say is.. title of thread -> Fare adjustment.

He talked about the difficulties and challenges face by SMRT.. fair enough, but totally missing the point..?

Actually, I'm not \"attacking\" snowman in person, but my comment is more of a \"13 yo\", talking about technical difficulties faced by SMRT, but little relevance to the main subject of \"fare increment\", difficulties of working adults in times of ever rising transportation costs despite \"stagnant\" salaries and have to squeeze in overcrowded trains to get to work to earn their keep..

Please do not relate too much to \"snowman\", but rather, \"13yo\" and \"not working\"..

Still, it may be overdone.. your feedback are noted.

[limlim]

snowman.697:

1. fare keeps rising and we dont enjoy our ride


Singapore population is rising.

2. cant get into buses and trains

Limlim > Like 3Boys said, why are u taking this to a personal level? I know how many zeros are there in 200 million. There are 8 zeros in 200 million okay. And obviously i can understand what are profits. I know how the PTOs are run because i am a transport enthusiast myself. Age does not determine a person's level of maturity. I seen 15 years old behaving like babies. I've seen 10 years old being very mature. I'm already very reasonable with my argument. Do you know anything about me? Do you know my real name, my secondary school, or any other details about me? If not, then why are you making the assumption that i do not know my math or my english?

I know my tone is harsh but I have to speak like this to let people really know that i know what i am talking about. My posts are not targeted personally. And I also need to make a strong point about what i have said given the fact that I am still very much younger than all of you out there, and obviously I know that there are many people who are against the fare raise. I believe that the minority always has to make their points strong to make their stand heard. Just my 0.2 cents.

I am not making any assumption of your maths or English. However, how deep is your understanding/feeling of the implications of these figures/terms? The words are harsh.. I recognize that.. It reflects the feeling of peasants on the overcrowded buses and trains, I believed.

I assume you you're trying to defend the SMRT and transport operators in the application for fare hike? (Sorry if my assumption is wrong, but my subsequent comments will be based on this assumption)

Now, I try to justify why I mentioned 200mil and profit in my earlier post.

Mr snowman, can you advise us, in your defense of the SMRT's fare hike application, HOW would increasing fares on top of the 200mil PROFIT, solve the overcrowding/frequency of bus/train issue?

Maybe.. it discourages ridership? just like how COE discourage car ownership and ERP discourage road usage? or even GST discourage consumption? (if that is even good for the economy!?)

Perhaps, these question that I posted are totally not relevant bcoz the increase in fare is NEVER to solve the overcrowding/frequency issues in the first place!....?

I'm not trying to make a personal attack, but just to point out that a 13yo non-working youth attempted to defend SMRT's fare hike but did not make any reference to the critical factors (200 mil PROFIT) in the reasoning and hence perhaps did not address the issue sufficiently.

[limlim]

3Boys:

daddy2007:

Just buy SMRT shares to hedge against the rise in transportation cost:)

If one really believes that SMRT and Singbus are running away with profits, then please just go buy a few lots of shares in each, your dividend payout and capital appreciation will FAR outweigh whatever increase in transport cost you have to bear.

Can peasants afford a few lots of SMRT shares..? haha..

If this suggestion comes from SMRT, great plan.. ask complainers to pay money(buy SMRT shares) to shut themselves up..

[3Boys]

limlim:

Perhaps, these question that I posted are totally not relevant bcoz the increase in fare is NEVER to solve the overcrowding/frequency issues in the first place!....?

I'm not trying to make a personal attack, but just to point out that a 13yo non-working youth attempted to defend SMRT's fare hike but did not make any reference to the critical factors (200 mil PROFIT) in the reasoning and hence perhaps did not address the issue sufficiently.

You know, I think snowman has made a very game effort in breaking down the components of the fare increase. Actually, he did make a point that fare increase does not necessarily come with an improvement in services. I am paying 15% more for petrol than I did for petrol 2 years ago, and as far as I know, 1 litre of gas gets me the same distance today as it did then.

Inflation has a funny way of making money look smaller, as do rising commodity prices, and salaries.

Interesting write up here, well worth a read. I quote from the article --> \"energy costs are growing faster than what SMRT is earning from providing those services.\"

http://out-of-ratrace.blogspot.com/2011/07/smrt-fare-hike.html

In other words, not a compelling profit story, despite what emotional reaction people might have to a public transport company making $200 million a year.

[sall]

limlim, don’t belittle a 13 yo student. If I didn’t say snowman is 13 yo in an earlier post, will you attack his comments so vehemently?

[raysusan]

i dont understand the theory behind a company that makes so much $$$ a year and yet telling us not enough if need to improve the ‘service standard’


the true is even if they want to raise the price, there is nothing we can do at all

greed has no boundary …
our transport minister seem to agree on the price raise too

[amcon]

raysusan:

i dont understand the theory behind a company that makes so much $$$ a year and yet telling us not enough if need to improve the 'service standard'


the true is even if they want to raise the price, there is nothing we can do at all

greed has no boundary .....
our transport minister seem to agree on the price raise too

Me too. I think WP's idea of nationalised the transport companies is a good idea. The public transport, as the name suggest is for the public, and not for profit generating or answerable to shareholders. It should be answerable to the public at large.

Furthermore, they are making a profit already. As for efficiency, I think it needs to be improved. There are times the waiting time for the buses or SMRT can be quite erratic, even when the timetable is shown on the screen.