Punggol East By-Election coming ? MP steps down

[3Boys]

concern2:

3Boys:

Since people think SMRT shareholders are having their pockets lined with public money, I wish the g'ment would buy 150 million shares of SMRT and just give 50 shares to each adult citizen. End of talk of nationalisation.

Well, they did with Singtel, didn't they? But after people sell them off, that's the end of the story.

Hey, you know, RP mentioned that everyone should be given a share in Temasek Holding leh, what do you think?

Good idea!!

Bad for governance, but hey, if it shuts people up.......

[toddles]

3Boys:

Irrelevant:

[quote=\"toddles\"]
I think to most people, what rankles is fare increases in the face of record profits by the company year after year.

What record profits are you referring to? :scratchhead:

I've just checked SMRT's annual report. The relevant revenue and profit for the past 3 years are as follows:

FY2010
Revenue: 895.1m Profit: 162.9m

FY2011
Revenue: 969.7m Profit: 161.1m

FY2012
Revenue: 1,057.2m Profit: 119.9m

I did the sums somewhere else before. Divided by ridership, equals something like $8+ per month per person that goes into 'profit'.

That's apparently a big deal for the majority.

Help the poor, certainly, but if you can afford, do your social responsibility by paying up and not demanding subsidies.[/quote]Hmm... divided by ridership... went to search, the figures I could find were on daily ridership in terms of passenger-trips. Does that mean if I take 25 trips a month, it's $200 of profit they make from me a month, or $2400 profit from one commuter a year?

[toddles]

Way2GO:

toddles:

Urm, shouldn't that be KPKBor? Bu is mother, no?

Picky aren't u? :nunchuk:
in dis context, 'bu' cld be taken to mean d wifey lah
as when me say, \"my chiobu at home\"
most ppl wld not think me referring to my mother right?

yeah i was racking my brains on how to contextualise \"bu\". but now u say \"chiobu\".... Ahhh..... correct.

Cos otherwise all that behind him talk, then image of mother... wah, disturbing. :siam:

[Irrelevant]

toddles:

On the portion in purple, I think the NLB is an amazing example of an entity with great performance without profit motive.

Why can't the public transport system be similar? Why must excellence be driven by profit motive?

NLB gets around 200 million a year from the govt to promote reading. How much do you think SMRT / Comfort Delgro will need? And how is the government going to fund that? More GST? :evil:

[toddles]

Irrelevant:

toddles:

On the portion in purple, I think the NLB is an amazing example of an entity with great performance without profit motive.

Why can't the public transport system be similar? Why must excellence be driven by profit motive?

NLB gets around 200 million a year from the govt to promote reading. How much do you think SMRT / Comfort Delgro will need? And how is the government going to fund that? More GST? :evil:

Gahmen give $1.1 bn to SMRT/SBS transit - where does that come from?

[sinoboy]

Last time got DBS and posb, after one takes the other got less competition lah but my banking charges increase.

[3Boys]

toddles:

3Boys:

[quote=\"Irrelevant\"]

What record profits are you referring to? :scratchhead:

I've just checked SMRT's annual report. The relevant revenue and profit for the past 3 years are as follows:

FY2010
Revenue: 895.1m Profit: 162.9m

FY2011
Revenue: 969.7m Profit: 161.1m

FY2012
Revenue: 1,057.2m Profit: 119.9m

I did the sums somewhere else before. Divided by ridership, equals something like $8+ per month per person that goes into 'profit'.

That's apparently a big deal for the majority.

Help the poor, certainly, but if you can afford, do your social responsibility by paying up and not demanding subsidies.

Hmm... divided by ridership... went to search, the figures I could find were on daily ridership in terms of passenger-trips. Does that mean if I take 25 trips a month, it's $200 of profit they make from me a month, or $2400 profit from one commuter a year?[/quote]2012 Annual report

http://www.smrt.com.sg/Portals/0/PDFs/About%20SMRT/Investor%20Relations/Annual%20Report/2012_SR.pdf

Train ridership = 654.4 Mn

EBIT attributable to trains = $91.0 Mn

Average profit per ride = 91/654.4 = 13.9 cents

Average profit at 20 rides a week (high?) = 13.9 cents x 20 x 4 weeks = $11.12 per month.

According to this, if you take 20 MRT trips a week, you are contributing $11 profit to SMRT per month. So I was off by $3 per month, sorry!

Put another way, if the g'ment now commits to take over SMRT operations and remove profit motive, then we would have returned to the public at large, $91m, or $26 per citizen, for 2012. :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah:

SMRT run by civil service :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: .......

[3Boys]

toddles:

On the portion in purple, I think the NLB is an amazing example of an entity with great performance without profit motive.

Why can't the public transport system be similar? Why must excellence be driven by profit motive?

I hire you to work for me for free, can? Or cost recovery model, I pay for your transport, lunch and dinner if OT. :evil:

[pirate]

Wah! You guys went on and on without me. I was going to say something too. But I decided to go drink some liang teh instead... :celebrate:


I will let rip on Sunday, or may Saturday night. :nunchuk:

[Mdm Koh]

3Boys:

Mdm Koh:

[quote=\"3Boys\"]

I agree. But an across-the-board subsidy is not the answer is it? Why should taxpayers money be used to subsidise all and sundry when it's better used on those who really need it?

And who are those who \"really need it\"?

The Ministers do not really need their high salaries but they're still asking for them. I wonder if Singaporeans have become so selfish that we have forgotten our social responsibility.

Errrr....they've dropped their salaries 20%+.

Take your pick. I'd say bottom 20% by household income would be a good place to start. They already get GST rebates etc.

Why subsidise the MRT fare of the Credit Suisse regional managing director on the way to Robinson Road from his Draycott condo (example only).

I'm fully aware of my social responsibilities, I call for higher income taxes across the board, to fund social programmes.

But I demand rigour to the process, no wasteful subsidies to public transport, healthcare, education and housing, to be abused by those who do not require it but use their vote to demand it (there are plenty of such Singaporeans, believe me).

Give the money to those who are disadvantaged.[/quote]The Credit Suisse guy probably doesn't take the MRT. I think bottom 20% is fair. Actually I don't think more subsidies across the board is the way to go either. But the status quo isn't working too. Time for bolder reforms?