He was just shooting his mouth off and farting at the same time,that’s why!
Coming to the standard of service being provided, had my fellow TOCkers noticed the new Volvo buses which I was told cost $500,000 a pop don’t seem to have the carrying capacity numbers as the double deckers? Please make an extra effort to assess that the next you board one of those. Further more, the ride is very jerky and uncomfortable whenever the brakes are applied. Deliberate act by the driver or an inherent engineering flaw?

It would have been more accurate to title this post: “Transport fares not DIRECTLY linked to oil prices? Really?” I don’t think Minister Lim was saying that there is no link whatsoever between fuel prices and transport fares.

This is clear from the following extracts from the ST report.

“But Mr Lim also tempered hopes that current falling oil prices will translate into a similar drop in fares, saying that there is no direct correlation between the two. If there is, public transport fares would have shot up 40 per cent between last year and earlier this year on the back of a spike in oil prices over the period, but did not, he said.”

“But the minister also dispelled the hope expressed in a popular question that he said many have put to him: With oil prices now plummeting, why not fares too?

‘That’s a fair question,’ he said. ‘The answer is that public transport fares are not directly linked to oil prices.’ ”

“Refuting the idea that fares are directly linked to oil prices, he pointed out that ‘from 2007 to this year… oil prices went up 40 per cent, but fares went up just 0.7 per cent’.”

No choice, they have to continue making alot of huge profit now to patch up the those big losses they’ve blundered upon themselves in those investments which were still being hidden from the people.

Lies Lies Lies and outright Lies!!! These people are lying through their teeth and saying “So What?” in your face.

How many more years can singaporeans endure all those lies from these elites? How long more can you people willing to live in this fake society where the rich get richer by telling lies at the expense of the commoners. Don’t you people realise whats been put onto you people all these years?

Hahahaa…..

2 days ago, Khaw came out to address the Town Councils’ losses and got ridiculed for doing so.

Today, Lim comes out with ridiculous rhetoric about not adjusting transport fees downwards in view of the severe drop in oil prices.

Wha…the naked emperor is now employing a ‘meat shield’ strategy to draw flak away from the real problems ah?

Be alert, fellas. There’s something else brewing that requires such sacrifice on their part.

Why cant the million dollars ministers at least learn how to communicate better. Disappointed with both Khaw and Lim in their recent display. In this case, it would be proper that Lim says that fuel costs is but one factor and PTC will review all factors in considering fare adjustments, whether up or down.

Because the senile old man keeps telling them that’s this way will always work with the electorate. LKY is still living in 20th Century! and the 60’s to boot!

If the fare increase for the pass few years does not link to fuel cost increase then why they increase? To increase so that they can have higher profit every years and taking higher bonuses. What is Public Transports? I tot Public Transports are suppose to be serving Nation peoples and not trying to earn a huge Profit. Why Singapore Government are so money minded, trying to earn more money from us Singapore Citizen that voted for them.

We never ask for a aircon bus terminal, we never ask for TV in Buses and MRT.

Last time non air con buses are charge lower cost than aircon buses, how about buses have lesser seats and make us stand all the way to works. How about MRT that don’t have seat, are we being charge fairly or kanna con by them.

BTW not only Bus and MRT, how about Taxi fare?

Hey guys, how come our PM keeping very quiet while sending out these all their clowns to amused the public instead? Is this something to create the spirit of this coming christmas?

The PM is looking at the BIG picture, remember? Who else would want to look at the picture with him at a time like this? We are kiasi and kiasu remember?

Millionaire ministers are no different. PM being paid the most must be the one looking at the biggest picture. Look until eyes popped out, still looking, no solution.

Small picture ones for the ikan bilises to see to. That’s why we see them all around annoying and insulting us with their ikan bilis brains.

[ Hey guys, how come our PM keeping very quiet while sending out these all their clowns to amused the public instead.]

Answer: These clowns are on probation, same as the redundant ministers of state in the PMO.

[...] ERPains, Trains & Automobiles – A long and arduous road of an entrepreneur: Fare Hike Is Not Linked To Oil Price? – Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot: Transport Minister gunning to be Finance Minister? – TOC: Transport fares not linked to oil prices? Really? [...]

He made a serious mistake in the report. Fare DID NOT INCREASE BY 0.7%. Did anyone spot that ???

You see, it is near bonus time, so Raymond Lim hopes to impress his boss by TRYING to say something smart.

Raymond threw in a red herring by claiming that S’poreans wanted free public transport. It must be obvious by now that whenever S’poreans asked for reduction in costs, our mini-stars would cite an extreme example (here being S’poreans wanting free public transport) to support their position!!!

Another red herring the smart alec Raymond threw in was the linkage to GST. He said GST must increase to 8.5% to accommodate this. But…errr….how come GST went from zero to 7% today even though public transport was NEVER free and in fact, fares went UP???

Hope someone in TOC is monitoring all these PAP MPs speeches closely. It seems that when comes to figures, they are all jumbled up, never once correct and forgeting what was being told before and now. I guess all those who are being called up by the master to address the public concern would just come out with all kinds of rubbish they can think of just to finish their task given, and not addressing the issues. They may be pissing off their pants now and praying that they can still enjoy taking home their $million salaries.

I’m amused … we’re NOT asking for FREE public transport ! Why talking about an increase in the GST ? Are we expecting a tax cut ? (Someone just said no.)

If possible, REDUCE; if NOT, HOLD ON to current fares !!!

What a waste of time and money spent … Simply very disappointed with the kind of reasoning ….

Thus, more and more, we begin to see how “capable” our well-paid officials are.

They get away with all of this is because no one puts them to task – not the press, not the transport authority, not CASE, and a weak opposition.

and how many of us poor workers here have a pay adjustment of 0.7%?
let alone the fear of getting a 90% retrenchment
~zhee~
why in the whole wide world
do we have such talented transport ministers
1 after another IDIOT…

In the last few days, I have met at least two persons who have lost their jobs and needed to sell their EZ link card to put food on the table for their family. These no doubt have to pay higher transport fare now as they will be paying cash.

Raymond Lim is a honest person, so he is speaking honestly from what he knows the reasons for the previous transport fare increase. That is “Oil price increases are just convenient and acceptable reasoning that the peasants are able to obediently accept for hike in transport fare”, and the main reason is that the transport companys that are majorly owned by Temasek Holding are making less profits for the past two years so they have to prop-up the profits to maintain the profit policy level demanded by their major shareholders. In fact the price structure of the transport fare has already taken into account of future price increase in diesels that is why the past fare hike is not directly link to diesel price increases. If diesel price decreases below the maximum threshold price of diesel build into the fare structure, the surplus in revenue become bonus profits for the major shareholders. So never hope for a fare decrease unless you have another competitor transport operator or support Raymond Lim’ s proposal for free public transport for a 8.5%GST. His this proposal is a good going-green idea as majority of Singaporeans may take public transport and leave their cars at home or even sell their cares away. The poor will definitely benefit from this idea and we can do away with transport rebate coupons for needies that waste a lot of manpower and paper materials.

even if they are not directly linked, why is the fare price not even reduced by 0.7%??

And I thought politicians of the honest kind are very much an extinct species. Is there such a thing an honest politician? Are you kidding me?

I have a proposal Raymond.
a. Go on, increase the GST as you’ve suggested. 10%, no problem, go ahead.
b. Make sure transport fare is free, forever free, without lowering standard of quality.
Foreigners to pay market rate transport fares (ha! ha! whatever this is?).
c. Return us our CPF at a rate of 2% or 3% for every 5 year intervals beginning at age 25.

And Raymond, while you on this, care to suggest to SP to do the same so that we can get free water and electricity.

Better still, why don’t we get the PAP Govt to provide free clothes and housing and food and the occassional holiday to a destination of our choice complete with spending money, everything we need in exchange for all Singaporeans to work without salaries.

Good idea? I have no headache, my neighbour has no headache, you have no headache …er …. maybe a bit lah …. no million dollar salary for you lah. But hey, a small price to pay right, to have peace of mind? How?

Not linked? But they told us that the increase is due to oil prices…… why eating their own words?

Mr Lim explained: “This is because the public transport fare is not directly linked to the oil prices. We link it to national factors, like the inflation level in Singapore, and the wage level in the whole of Singapore.”

Questions that need more addressing:

1) What other national factors besides the two mentioned?
2) Inflation level of Singapore? How do you account for this?
3) Which category of people were accounted as wage level? I am sure this data are not some secret private matters.

Is the public transport a government entity? or is it a wholly owned private operated government entity? When the Public Transport Operators ask for a raise in pricing, what was their supporting reasons (in writing)? They can’t just ask verbally right? There must be a proposal somewhere that can be made available to common citizenry since these operators are partly subsidized (using tax payer money). I am sure the Singapore Government practice good governance and are run with the interest of the people at heart, therefore, due diligence were exercise before approval were given for the price increment request. Right?

Know what, I believe many people are like me. I do not believe in any speech made by the minister. Minister’s pay cheque is peg to the GDP. Don’t you think it is stupid to do something that hurt his or her pocket? I cannot forget how they gave a super mini fine the transport companies for not giving a better service and expecting them to give a better service. Emm… Is taking away sits consider an improvement in service? I think he opens his eyes and talks blindly. Really, jokes of the century.

“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” –

– Abraham Lincoln

who is this RAYMOND LIM…anyone got this clown photo?

“This is because the public transport fare is not directly linked to the oil prices. We link it to national factors, like the inflation level in Singapore, and the wage level in the whole of Singapore.”

Uh? I thought inflation is calculated based on the increase in the various costs of living (food, transportation, utilities, etc.) and not the other way round?

Click Here.

Brother Benny Lim was with ISD and now Home Affairs Perm Sec.

As I already said its fat hope for transport fare to go down. Firstly, the operating cost is secondary consideration to major shareholders’ bumper profit criteria and secondly, with current recession getting worse, ridership may drop as less people are getting to work and generally more people may stay at home to reduce expenses. That why Raymond Lim is not confident even to agree to a fare freeze, reduce riderships may further reduce shareholders’ profit margin. If the government have their way they come up with for the common good reason such as to upgrade the fleet of buses to green buses in time for the upturn of the economy we need another fare hike to increase reserve fund for the transport company to do this or that. So you see it will never go now unless the government are down and out of our sight.

Want to take a look at the clown?

Please visit here.

Let’s try again. If cannot work, pls copy and paste url:
http://search.live.com/images/results.aspx?q=raymond+lim+siang+keat+photo%20|%20id:092327077C38C60C78B63360AFAEC95B45547DAF&form=IGRE0&p1=OneRow#focal=862c2b7515db6e0554162618fdfba5cd&furl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.parliament.gov.sg%2fAboutUs%2fimages%2fProf-Raymond.gif

If transport fares are not linked to oil prices, how come when oil prices go up, fares are also adjusted upwards in tandem. I find it ridicules that transport fares are not linked to oil prices. On the small subject, taxi fares were also adjusted when oil prices went up to more than USD140 per barrel in July08. Surely there must be a direct linked of transport/bus/taxi fares to the price of oil/fuel.
I don’t think Singaporeans are that stupid to believe that transport fares are not linked to oil prices. Perhaps, the minister just don’t have the answer at all.

This is why the new media (i.e. blogs like this one) ought to be regulated. Otherwise the truth will be out in no time, lol.

The PAP ministers’ method of reasoning haven’t changed with the times. They still think that making such statements in a matter-of-fact, think-I’m-so-witty-and-clever way will absolve them of any real need to explain. Fortunately, this is not true anymore :-) I hope more Singaporeans will read widely, and importantly, beyond the Straits Times.

It’s all very nice to have a ‘formula’ to work out price increase. Problem is:
1. we don’t see the formula beyond the ‘idea’ of what it comprises off
2. we don’t know who decides what numbers (and indeed how those numbers come about) are entered into the formula to generate the resulting fare in/decrease.

21) Spirit-centred

when i saw your first post, i really want to shoot you, but looking at your second post calm me down a little. the first post looks like those ghost writer who pop in to defend the gahmen.

“Firstly, the operating cost is secondary consideration to major shareholders’ bumper profit criteria” hey, isn’t the majority shareholder temasek holdings? if so, does that mean that they are the one trying to seek a bumper profit at the people’s expense?

however, “secondly, with current recession getting worse, ridership may drop as less people are getting to work and generally more people may stay at home to reduce expenses.”

well, this is the part i will really want to challenge…in fact ridership may increase since people will sell their cars if they are out of job. secondly, they will still opt for buses/mrt over taxi. thirdly, out of job means they don’t have to go to work, yes, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t have to go out and look for work right?

oh yesh, i hope that someone is keeping track of all this fiasco, so that in the near future, when they say things that will contradict themselves, we can bring up these issues against them.

i feel that all the “wonderful” things that they have done will help to build a momentum and sooner or later, the avalanche will just pop out of nowhere on them

Many reasons to justify fare increases, but zero for fare reduction.

Raymond Lim should tell us the formula for the price fare hike and not just tell us the result of the formula.

The formula of fare hike look like it will be pegged to whatever entity that will be sky-high. When oil is very high, pegged fare to oil, when oil is very low, pegged it to something else, maybe pegged it to Raymond Lim’s performance (which he might rate himself very high).

” I’m your worst nightmare……” – Ramballs Limp.

We watched the blabber on tv. As he speeched, his right hand was gesturing in circles with fingers curling and index attempting to point somewhere in the space about his head. Typical pi.eh.pi.

Opp parties,,,WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?? COme On,, Hit Baack all these Increase!!!!

We should boycott public transports and ride bicycle and don’t bother whether the oil got link or not.

Everyone should read Molly’s Guide to Being Simplistic
http://mollymeek.livejournal.com/199802.html

“Next, you simplify the issue in such a way that people can understand. In other words, you work in simple binaries or dichotomies. Most peasants’ minds work this way and there’s no point in artificially elevating their intellectual capacity by pretending that they are capable of more nuance or subtlety”

eg asking for a REDUCTION in public transport fares? Stretch the ANALOGY TO COMPLETELY FREE FARES.

“Forget about complicated things like “Yes, but to what extent?” or “Yes, but how?”. Not to mention “Yes, but have we gone a tad too far already nevertheless?” Don’t forget that your target audience are peasants and they lack the intellectual capacity for such complexity. Venture into such questions and you will lose them immediately.”

:P (tongue firmly in cheek). Looks like Lemon has learnt enough from Molly!

I will vote Raymond Lim out next election

End of the day it is all about who are the major shares holder of the 4 listed public transport company. SBS, SMRT, TIBS, Comfort-Delgro.

You know I know what are the major shares holder who are getting all that dividends……..

Yes, these elites are the major shareholders and now they are all enjoying their monopolised everflowing hugh dividends every year beside collecting their $million salaries, if this is not robbing the people, then what is it ? Now you know why singapore, a tiny red dot produces the highest no. of millionaires in the entire world every year, by now all are already be multi-millionaires.

Such statements coming from a cabinet minister is unbecoming. I think I am not alone to feel offended by the arrogant and threatening response to a legitimate concern raised by a resident.

Raymond Lim, why have you consistently put yourself on the side of the transport companies? Why have not you not represented the interest of the People?

I hope all such dialogue sessions should be made known to the whole country and let any citizen attend to pose questions ‘live’ and people should be allowed to bring in video cameras to capture the precious moments.

eg. if session is in McPherson, other area people should also be allowed to attend. Some more, many are out of job now and why not let them have a SAY ?

If I knew of the McPherson thingie, I would have raised my hands to question lim.
I got so many questions.

eg. how much did tc lose in totality and which investments past and present are in toxic products? the hdb people’s money is the very important wan.

i chua mui mui lah.

I think what is on the mind of most Singapore commuters is lower and not so often increase of public transport fares, and many of them are willing to go for no frills and safe public transportation if that are needed to keep transport fares ‘low’ and within a certain percentage point of their financial income, especially if their income are low, in comparison to high income earners. I think they do not mind non air conditioned buses, non air conditioned bus interchanges and no frills MRT if that is needed to keep prices ‘low’. Maybe even the occasional break downs, and delays. I think even a few cents reduction will gladden them. And I think they will appreciate government ministers who understand their concerns, and help them understand the issues behind the problems. Maybe a multi-tiers transport fares princing may help. Of course the longer term solution is to find ways to help raise the financial income of the low income earners. I think raising GST rates is definitely not the way to go. Many Singaporeans are already unhappy with the 7% GST rates, so it is no wonder that they reacted negatively to the suggestion of further raising it to 8.5%. Despite what the minister said, I think the reaction is healthy, even if it is negative, some of them are positive. Having reaction is better than no reaction. There is a need to find out ways to earn more money, and put these money into the hands of those who need them, and yet not weaken but strengthen their resolve to improve themselves. I think it is never easy to manage the national public transportation system but it can be done.

aiyoyo

oil up, fares up also.

oil down, fares still high also.

why so many things in this country no logic one huh???

is it because too many ELITEs???

aiyoyo

Raymond Lim said transport cost not tied to oil, but to factors like inflation, wages. Now our inflation is coming down, wages also freeze or cut + mass retrenchment. Doesn’t that justify transport fare? He has his own face.

I

What can I say, its a strategy against fluctuating oil price in this uncertain time… New form of hedging.. Oil Price goes up, simply raise fare, oil price drop, keep the fare, even better, fare is pegged to percentage increase in oil price, hence every hike automatically led to fare increase.. Nice move.
Couple that with closing the roads off to other transport users through imaginative measures (all day bus lane, give way etc), straggling competition (force private bus operators out with seat belt rules while they are immune), no wonder their annual returns are always on the raise..

Now I know why those public SERVANT are so highly paid, they are the fall guys who has to deliver the bullocks story to their pay master and endure all the curses and vulgarities deservedly thrown at them..

for heaven sake, if oil price is not linked to transport cost, transport companies should not use high oil price as a reason when asking for fare increase…..talk about manpower cost, transport companies have started employing FTs as drivers and this should drive manpower cost down instead of up…..so pls stop using manpower cost as reason…….

Sad to have this man as MP, step down Ray!!

Well the way I look at it, they just want to make money so that they can have a bigger reserve Now that oil prices has gone down drastically, and they see that the profit is much bigger, they become extremely reluctant to bring down bus fare.

It is not about inflation. That is obviously an excuse to maintain the high bus fare. Buses don’t run on coal. They run on oil. So if oil prices goes down, it should be much cheaper to operate the buses. Even kids will understand this logic. Does the minister thinks that Singaporeans are so foolish? I pity that old man who “pleaded” with the minister to bring down the bus fare.

Our country certaily needs independent views from independent economists to give a balanced view about our country’s economy. I hope to see a public debate between opposition leaders and that minister on this issue. Then we can see how much this “million dollar” minister are really worth.

Transport fare hikes are linked to oil prices ONLY WHEN IT IS BENEFICIAL FOR THEM.

If you compare today’s Shit Times and Zhao Pao headlines, you will know even SPH is try to malu this no ink Ministrer

You have a elite who has now never taken a daily bus to work in his elite life
What does he know about the daily grouse of commuters
who have to wait for buses which are late, never clean, jostling with the crowd
on the bus or train, missing a few rides as the bus refused to stop or the train is simply to crowded to get in. The feeble excuse that fuel cost have gone up
so they need to increase the fares, or they need new buses (seems most of the buses are always old) and they are making revenue from the tv and adverts on the buses. You see profits going up and up every year and we commuters forking extras to line the stock options of the ceo.
Just enough of the SHIT from them.

this is a fiasco in the making…especially when the man on the street is increasingly feeling the pinch in his rapidly thinning wallet. the minister’s statements are actually rubbing the salt further in the wound. come on! are we expected to buy the argument that transport prices are only affected by rising and not falling oil prices?

A Tale of 2 abnormalities in Singapore:

Public transports cost – Buses, MRT and taxi fares are a one way up (very constantly) over the years and for decades. Ever down before?

Private Transport Cost – Yet the reverse is true here, car prices are one way down for decades.

More than a decade ago, a Toyota family car cost $130,000, now cost $55,000 and that is in today’s value, factor in real value(inflation), the cost is even lower than $55,000.

A Mercedes E-class cost nearly $300,000 a decade ago, now cost $140,000 or in real value, much lower.

Import taxes are lower, additional taxes are lower, road taxes are lower and COE are lower.

So it pay to be rich in Singapore.

Raymond Lim said that
“the public transport fare is not directly linked to the oil prices. We link it to national factors, like the inflation level in Singapore, and the wage level in the whole of Singapore.”

If this guy mentality and his way of looking at the big picture all screw up. God help us

Btw he studied econimics at U of Adelaide, and comes out with this type of answers. Below JC standard.

well, when they make speech like this, it reall makes me wonder whether they are who they claim to be…cream of the crop that justify that sky high pay

transport fare link to minster pay?

quite related.

If transport costs are not directly link to oil prices then SIA should refund
every cent of the fuel surcharge it levied on all its passengers. PUB
should also do the same for the high tariff it charges consumers for Sept-Dec 2008 quarter.

I just “admire” such a foolish & stupid over-paid Minister having the guts to make
such a statement that transport costs has no direct link to oil prices. I’m now feeling a shame that we have such a person as a Minister!

Raymond Lim should go and watch the batman movie The Dark Knight cos he is surely The Joker!

Here we have a minister who we can see easily looses his temper and tries to pull rank without realising how he got into parliament. Hey we did not vote you in as an individual you came in by the backdoor as has most of our ministers. If we had no so called GRC do you think you will stand a chance! Let alone most of our ministers. Do you remember how long it took MAh BOw Tan to get into the government. Alone the people did not vote him in.

So cut the crap and stop trying to abuse your so called rank and power. We the people voice our concerns. You are payed the big bucks so listen to what we have to say and stop and hear us out.We are no more afraid to voice our opinions and speak the truth. I guess the truth hurts when its the truth!

[...] But two of those three factors are linked very closely to oil prices. In fact, the public transport operators said so themselves, as highlighted by another TOC article. [...]

i have never heard anything more arrogant than his remark that gst has to increase to 8.5% if we want free public transport. obviously he does not listen. nobody is asking for free rides. we know better than to ask for freebies in this society. it smacks of arrogance and i like to see him stand one on one with even a guy like discredited chee soon juan and he will learn the power of the electorate.
did you read the article or letter in the straits times of 20/12 comparing taipeh’s mrt and ours? what a shame it is for us that our commuters have to wait and be squeezed into the trains. and why? so that the companies can make profits. and who are the main shareholders? singapore inc. our people are being sucked dry by the rulers! change MUST come!

The whole problem is the arrogance and out-of-touch attitude of our ministers and leaders. I am getting worried about such people who are suppose to lead us into our future. If they do not show even a grain of evidence that they really care for the ground, then it is really very sad. I believe many of the them, Raymond, Mah and Teo inclusive, must be avoiding reading all these negative feedback from the ground. If they do, they may be able to understand the ground feelings and change their tone and approach. If they still don’t change after reading these, then their hearts must be made of cold stones. Finally, if they really avoid reading, knowing these are negative feedback on them, then they are just ostriches sticking the heads into the sand or the naked emperors. Sad to have such leaders…

When politicians gein to tell lies its time to vote out the ruling party.

I dont know what happen to our world class system where the ministers always give the wrong answers hah

So public transport fare is linked to wage level of the whole of Singapore?

But the whole of Singapore do not take public transport. Only the lesser well off who cannot afford a car, the poor, very poor and non-income earners take public transport.

So please peg to these low-salary and no-salary Singaporean.

Hey, I though over the years, these low salary Singapore have seen their take home pay diminished!

This whole thing is just load full of shit! How I wish tomorrow is GE day! No shame in earning those millions from the taxes even the poorest pay when he buys a packet of nasi lemak. Even the poorest have to pay from the effects of the GST and the high oil prices.

Mr. TM, if there just isn’t any enough reason to reduce the transport fares, just shut the hell up. Do you know how pissed people are with the whole bunch of you high and mighty?

You all are just a few up there. Don’t think the entire population are idiots that you can steam roll forever. The day of reckoning will soon be here. Mark my words. You all have just gone far too much. You all will pay dearly in the next GE. Good luck.

Changes will come and i pray it come soon…and i hope people won’t fall for the same trick again…are we going to suffer for another 5 years if we vote them in the next time? maybe we should compile a timeline of wad happen during this period.

Another increase.. What’s new..First they say linked to oil prices, then they say not linked..Then they say need new buses to maintain fleet, need manpower, need to maintain standards. etc..So many things they can say to bring up the prices..

hahaha….. what a first world leader……. what to do , we chose them…… first world voters…..

So this is what the ruling party’s got to show under the leadership of a Cambridge and Oxford-educated multi-decorated Prime Minister who has the benefit of being advised by a most experienced Minister Mentor AND a Senior Minister, both former Prime Ministers themselves. Please ministers, now is a bad time to crack jokes; save that for the good times.

It seems odd that an august Minister who is paid atronomical salary is blatantly arguing for the transport companies to hold their fare prices. Come, come Minister. When fuel prices went up you raise transport fares with the argument that fuel costs have gone up. You even allowed SIA to triple its fuel tax on every passenger. Now that fuel prices have dropped from US$147 to US$34 you now say there is no link between fuel price and transport fares. Your argument defies simple logic, and the ordinary people always lose.

J>F KENNEDY’S famous quote:”The Government of the people by the people for the people”. Obviously this does not hold any quarter in singapore.

First of all because there are some people in this government that the people did not vote in but were so called co-opted in under the usual disguise of the GRC. And secondly this government is not for the people but for their own selfish selfs!

They are a bunch of total craps! Come come all yee ministers ti’s time to wake up to the realities of the new singapore and new singaporeans who will not take any crap from you. It’s time to have weekly polls to see what the people think of this so called new breed of new leaders who are supposed to lead all singaporeansinto the next century. Lead they us they surely will but into the dumps!

Time to get real and listen to what the people are saying not shoved things down our throats as if we ar kiddos! That we are not for sure as the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evenings and as the leaves are to the trees.

Why dont all these ministers start taking the MRT and buses to work instead of driving in their fancy cars and gettin the traffic to halt when they drive by. Time to stop appearing as guests speakers at functions and lay claim to what they did not do but the ground people did. Its time we recognise the real people behind the scenes and give credit where credit is due!

aiyoyo

ELITEs talk talk talk, not sure commoners see their actions or not???

ELITEs up up up prices, not sure commoners feel the pressure or not???

economy ‘dark’ soon, not sure what ELITEs strategy???

think commoners still not get the logic
what these ELITEs in this country are doing?

aiyoyo

aiyoyo

CNA today reported :
“Oil falls again as economic fears grip market”

why fares still sky high huh???

aiyoyo

I don’t this all those MPs care what we say. All they care is getting more revenues. Blabbering nonsense. There is a phrase on youtube that said, “What Yew say is what Yew get”.

And all the while SBS waste money on buying expensive wheelchair-friendly buses but never put them into proper use i.e. mostly operating them on non-wheelchair friendly routes…

cannot never mind….. pattern must be nice…..right?, million dollars leader?

This Mr Lim is just an idiot that shoot himself. It looks as if he does not have a valid answer for the question asked and just trying to smuggling his way through.

Quite pathetic especially come from a minister.

http://www.global-report.com/pattaya/?l=en&a=349971
Land Transport Dept to reduce bus fares
Wanitcha Sumanat NNT 11.12.2008 18:50
Land Transport Dept to reduce bus fares

The Department of Land Transport is set to discuss over bus fare reduction within next two weeks after retail prices of diesel hit lower than 20 baht a litre.
The department Director-General Mr. Chairat Sa-nguansue (ªÑÂÃѵ¹ì ʧǹª×èÍ) revealed today (December 10) that the committee overseeing bus fares has agreed in its recent meeting that once the retail price of diesel continued to hit lower than 20 baht a litre for two weeks, a special session to seek bus fares’ reduction would be convened.

Mr. Chairat said that the future price adjustment would apply to passenger services of all buses under the management of Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) and the Transport Company Limited. The committee has earlier requested the department to gather information of production, service and maintenance costs of both organizations’ buses, while Chulalongkorn University’s research centre was hired to help work out all proper costs of the business.

(…) Current bus fares are as follows: cream-blue air-conditioned bus starts at 12 baht, lower than its previous 13 baht; air-conditioned Euro bus starting at 13 baht, lower than its previous 14 baht; non-air-conditioned cream-red bus 7.50 baht, lower than its previous nine baht; non-air-conditioned white-blue bus 8.50 baht, down from 10 baht; non-air-conditioned green mini-bus seven baht, down from eight baht.

Fare of jitney or Song-Taew small bus is lowered by 1.50 baht in Bangkok and the vicinity areas, while fare of distance provincial passenger bus is reduced by three satang per kilometre.

Lim won’t stay long in cabinet. He ha become a liability to PM Lee in view of the unpopular policies he has implemented these few years. In next GE he’d be replaced with another minister so as to give people a new false hope.

My take it that they have to maintain the transport compnies profitability. Companies such as SMRT is owned by Temasek (or MOF/government) and is important to them as a profit generating companies.

what to do? as voters we voted for these million minister so they can talk down on us. Shame on you Mr Lim, along with minister like Mah Bow Tan and Teo who just care about generating profits for government. And ultimately, it is PM LHL and MM LKY who are responsible for all these sufferings on the ground. Shame on you once more, on your sons and daughters, on your extended family, on all your elites friends and relatives. May you all suffering in hell after your rotted life end in this world.

I support increasing GST by 1.5% …and everyone gets FREE TRANSPORT. I would believe free transport includes buses and train rides.

GST 7%
It will cost me S$ 2.00 to travel from woodlands mrt to orchard mrt. To buy a shirt worth S$ 50.00. after GST = S$ 53.50. Another S$ 2.00 to go back home. Total cost: S$ 2 + 53.50 + 2 = S$ 57.50

GST 8.5%
I take FREE transport from woodlands mrt to Orchard mrt to buy a shirt S$ 50.00 after 8.5% GST = S$ 54.25

Transport savings
S$ 57.50 – 54.25 = S$ 3.30 …wow i like! plus can travel free the whole day!

Can Raymond Lim deliver what he said?

The problem is that they aren’t paid enough. If we increase ministers’ salary, we will be able to attract the talents working in the private sector.

I support increasing the GST 1.5% to enjoy free public transport as in buses and MRT trains.

Can we petition for this to be real?

“I support increasing the GST 1.5% to enjoy free public transport as in buses and MRT trains.”

You don’t have to support it as anyway as in every election, there will be GST hike going by past history. But don’t expect the GST to deliver free public transport, because the same clown that say it will just move on and relieve of his position to exonerate him of his irresponsible remarks. But It is not hard to figure what the clown going to say anyway:
“The transport fare hike is not directly linked to GST.” when the GST is hiked. Just watch how this Limonade become so defensive and work-up when its come to reducing transport fare.

There are difference between a world-class government and world-class clowns. Ours is the government make up of pathetic clowns that can naturally default on their words, and can even blindly quote CAVEAT EMPTOR and disappear when it backfire.

the minister is contradicting himself. total idiot for saying something without thinking.

I watched the video of Raymond Lim speaking and my conclusion is this:

What an arrogant sonofabitch.

The way he keeps pointing his fingers, and the tone of voice that he took with the audience, my conclusion is he must be thiking:

“This is a bunch of heartlanders. Better make things simple for them or else they won’t understand what I am saying.”

Go watch the video. The bloody minister is too comfortable in his walkover constituency.

Hi all,

I seriously do not mind free transport at 8.5% GST. I think the amount I save if I do not have to pay for my transportation will definitely exceed 1.5% premium over the current GST of 7%.

Anyway, I reckon my memory is really bad. Can anyone enlightened me if the government ever reduce pricing in transport cost? I think to be very fair, the price of oil have indeed halved since its peak but I don’t see any downward adjustment in transport costs. Actually, call me a pessimistic person, I don’t they ever will

Actually, it may not be completely fair to call the minister a liar or a derogator of the truth; it really depends on the formula and how he goes abt accounting for what he says.

The problem is the formula for conducting this simple calculation requires me to link certain material which may not be permissible here in TOC; I really dont know how to explain this without it; its really like trying to bake a cake without eggs; so I think; we will all just have to make do with speculating in the dark on this one.

I am so sorry, I cannot be of help here.

SD (The internet Liaison officer of the brotherhood)

if transport minister say not directly linked to oil then the people would take his words right or not?

“Not Directly Linked “:
could it mean linked but indirectly? so there is link but indirectly?

OR could it mean not linked at all ?

just use our brain lor. if still no understand then explain oso no use lor.

Yes, i agree that public transport fares are not directly linked to oil prices but are indirectly linked to their high pay.

SD,

There is no rule which says you cannot provide url links. In fact, I’ve stated that url links are better than cutting and pasting entire posts here in the comments section. You can even provide excerpts, if you want to.

So, please feel free to do so.

Thought I’d just clarify this.

Andrew

Big head, No brain,

Big Head, No Brain? Wrong! Its BIG HEAD, “NEW BRAIN” it hasn’t been used yet, still new!

I think SPH editors try to ‘malu’ Ray by this headline.
Sack the editor i/c, if you dare, Ray!

You are right, SPH editor i/c ’small head, got brain’

GST rise again?…………..GASAK SAMPAI TEROK??? is it for IR? but IR stand for IN RECESSION da!

How to spur the economy if transport cost remains high inspite of falling OIL price! this kind of scenario will only prolong the RECESSION and cost great hardship to those retrenched or loss of jobs etc.

We pay Raymond Lim millions a year to hear this type of bullsh*t

“Refuting the idea that fares are directly linked to oil prices, he pointed out that ‘from 2007 to this year… oil prices went up 40 per cent, but fares went up just 0.7 per cent’.”

A 40 percent increase in oil prices does not mean that you have to increase fares by 40 percent. to cover higher cost. It could be that a 0.7 percent increase in fares is sufficient. The transport company is not stupid. I too am not stupid.

109
The calculation is correct. oil prices go up by 40% fare increase should be 0.7% cos on average 50 to 55 persons board the bus when a bus roll out from the bus terminal without taking account of those passengers who board the same bus along the route. So 40% divide by 55 persons = 0.72%. So Oil price increase definitely and directly link with last fare hike.
Raymond Lim failed his mathematics during JC, he need SPUR by PM himself who is a Rlussian-trained mathematician, to upgrade himself.
All our MPs or Ministers are trained to speak from prepared notes written by their speech writer/secretary therefore he was caught off guard when this question not included in his speech was posed to him. Due to conflict of interest, he was not sure whether to side with the people and detriment the interest of masters’ TH, so instead he chose to smoke the people with his acromathic logic that 40% does not equate 0.7% argument and once the audience are blurred by the smokescreen already, he threatened with GST 8.5% for free ride.
I admire MPs and Ministers from neighbouring countries who can articulate so well during their parliamentary debate that makes our MPs and MInisters looks NO class.

104) Peter Lim on December 23rd, 2008 9.11 pm

I think SPH editors try to ‘malu’ Ray by this headline.
———————-

you pulling our leg right? hee hee….

scarly one fine day ah Ray take over helm of SPH how?

you think leh.

ha ha ha…..
think think think…

I dont know how long they can keep on lying to singaporeans??

Free transport at 8.5% GST, fat chance, which of the fat cats running the show takes public transport? While they would still have to bear the GST….
We already know the kind of price we pay for our cowardice to vote in a healthy balance political arena, but do they have to add insult to injury by filing a joker for a cabinet post and sprout nonsense as if the collective IQ of the mass (excluding the ‘ELITES’) falls short of 100…
Can’t imagine the future for my kids, probably have to pay for the air (in the form of smoke-free premium) to make up the loss of revenue from cigarettes… oops… hope I didn’t put ideas into the wrong heads.

Mr Lim is not idiot hor…… We are the idiot cos we allow their system to bring him into parliament without our consent hor.

Murphy’s Law as applied to Singapore: “Any fee that can be raised will be raised”.

I strongly support Minister Raymond’s proposal to provide free public transport in exchange for 8.5% GST. The middle and lower income people who take buses and MRT the most will benefit most from this fiscal change. It is correct for the rich people like the ministers who don’t take buses to work to pay proportionally more. However I am quite sure that all the other ministers will not support Raymond on this because the scheme will not benefit the ministers at all.
But the most important benefit to Singapore is that we are encouraging more people to take buses and MRT which will definitely free up the traffic congestions. This would therefore also mean lower COE and ERP for cars, and lower traffic-related noise, dust and toxic car exhaust pollution which is an important linked benefit.
Let’s start a petition to support Raymond on this.

Let’s not stop at 8.5% GST for free public transportation. Let’s raise it to 10%, then every time I take a bus/MRT, SBS/SMRT will pay me 20c, 30c!

Good deal!

Public Transport Council’s “Fare Regulation Framework”:
http://www.ptc.gov.sg/services_fare.asp

The fare adjustment formula was reviewed in 2008 and the revised formula to be applied from 2008 to 2012 is as follows:

Maximum Fare Adjustment = 0.5 CPI + 0.5 WI – 1.5%

Where,

CPI = Change in Consumer Price Index over the preceding year

WI = Change in Average Monthly Earnings (Annual National Average) over the preceding year, adjusted to account for any change in the employer’s CPF contribution rate

1.5% = The productivity extraction based on a sharing of productivity gains achieved by PTOs

Can anyone make sense of this?

Actually, 1.5%GST increase to get free public transport might not be such a bad thing for a lot of people currently taking public transport.

Assuming I pay $100 in public transportation/month, as long as I spend less than $80,000 in a year, I will end up paying less.

All those taking private transport will end up subsidising those who take public transport.

Not directly linked to oil prices? The Minister’s buses must be running on hot air then.

TOC’ers,

I believe we should just believe them.
Why spend time using your intellect to Question them?
Just believe them. case close. Many are doing just that. Many.

ah Gerard Ee said the bus fare increase in 2007 was due to the following reasons:

quote:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/299127/1/.html

Consumer price index : oil price increase will definitely lead to many consumer items price increase right? so, is oil not the reason?

Ave Wage increase : did it increase this year? was there a transport fare increase this year? Now , uncle, the Wage got increase meh? Based on now the wage, and based on uncle Gerard’s formula given, should the Transport Fare hike be Reversed?

Based on the above 2 factors given by Gerard Ee, I am very worried why transport fare goes up never came down when the factors he mentioned do can go down.

Link or no link is just part of all their 1001 reasons just to squeeze out the blood from the singaporeans. No point asking them why anymore, its been all the while their tactic in telling lies after lies to the people of singapore. Just make sure all you singaporeans get united and get all these MIW out of the office and the whole system will just fall into place for the people as before. No question to ask anymore, they are just there to turn a deaf ear no matter how frustrated or angry you are, they just only want one thing, that is to keep themselves in power and keep paying hemselves as much as possible. Understand? Just get them out!

For own info, don’t believe the crap about Annuity thingy that is going to implement in 2013. Vote those clowns out (whether if it is effective or not) because it highly likely to be another blatant lies and scam. Imagine a minister can even play punk and talk cock and went back on their words and reason, surely annuity can just be profitable business and money for these clowns too. Remember we do not have accountability and transparency in our gov. And no one responsible for anything in gov. Make money is what matter to them.
http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/My%2BMoney/Story/A1Story20080213-49349.html

“I believe we should just believe them.
Why spend time using your intellect to Question them?
Just believe them. case close. Many are doing just that. Many.”

Of course, I believe the clowns but not before I successful apply for oversea migration.

Yes Daniel, they are out again to con all those folks with this somersaulting tactic like CPF board recently advertising to encourage the people to out in more CASH into their CPF account to earn higher interests, you people believe in that? but they never tell you that you cannot take out the interests not until they come out with all sorts of reasons to push the draw out date further and further away from you people, by the time how many of you people will still be around the earth plain to see your money hah????

tiredsingaporeans,
exactly, notice who is greatest and mastermind culprit of mis-selling and misrepresentation ? Your guess is as good as mine. Isn’t the transport fare and Raymond Lim guilty of mis-selling and misrepresentation ? No wonder clowns of same feather get scott-free because it is meant to be !

How can the gov condemn FI and others of mis-selling and mis-representation when they themselves are guilty of it is beyond my understanding. Maybe the gov will like to tell the citizen, whatever gov do for them, it is all in the name of CAVEAT EMPTOR, whether or not that if citizen can do anything at all due to kangaroo policies and laws.

LONG HAIL THE EMPEROR OF SINGAPORE. LONG LIVE THE DYNASTY. MAY 2009 be the year of EMPEROR DESCEND TO HEAVEN AND RULE THE UNIVERSE.
And I will be burning BILLIONS of HADE currency for them to enjoy if they ever enter HELL.

Raymond Lim was appointed Minster for Entrepreneurism based on the fact that he had written a business plan to go into business for himself just prior to the Asian Crisis. The crisis put a halt to his plan. So he never once went into business for himself. Just having written a biz plan qualifies him to be entrepreneurial ??

I’ve played Flight Simulator 2,000 hours. Anyone wants to join me in a real plane??

God help us all

Mr Lim said that increase in bus fare is not directly linked to oil price increase but other national factors like inflation.

But recently reported in the ST Singapore inflation has dropped to lowest in Year 08 so does this translate to lower busfare? May be Mr Lim will find other factors to justify the fare hike again. When will all this BS stop? Please don’t give us anymore excuses. Don’t take us for idiots.

I hope that TOC has a record of this reduction in inflation numbers according to report in the ST.

Our Minister Mr Lim mentioned that oil price went up by 40% and bus fare hike went up by 0.7%. But now oil price has come down from US$145 per barrel to US$33 per barrel which translate to a 75% reduction in oil price. So does it mean that we should get at least a 1% reduction in bus fare?

What can i say?

It does not take an intelligent mind to be a PAP.
All it takes is a missing heart.

Am really disappointed at our walkover ministers.

i think the commuters should count themselves very lucky if the transport fare hike is smaller than last year. the hike is as sure as the sun will rise.

coming down? is there such a thing? what formula?

wow, if currency weakens
and gst hike
and that leads to many price increase,
and salary cut
siao liao.

Raymond Lim also asked whether Singaporeans wanted their rides subsidised in full with taxpayers’ money.

Well, PAP TownCouncils have amased billions of dollars in surplus funds and they even enjoyed the luxury of losing some tens of millions in investment notes and still have the audacity to brush off those losses as inconsequential. For too long, PAP Town Councils have obviously sucked up way too much money from the HDB dwellers who probably make up 99% of those depending on public transport. If these Town Councils reduce their monthly charges to a more reasonable and acceptable level, many millions of dollars will be released back into the HDB dwellers’ pockets, which would then go to their transport expenses. So, who is talking about free rides at the taxpayers’ expense?

Singaporeans are notable for their frequent bickering and grouses about costs – cost of living, cost of food, cost of transpotation, cost of electricity charges, cost of town council fees, cost of whatever. Why is that so? It’s because of PAP government monopoly on public services, which enable the government to suck up extraordinary (unnecessarily extraordinary) amounts from public pockets, making the government super-rich while the ordinary people feeling forever insecure as money keep flowing out of their pockets even before they could count it — the public are on a perpetual marathon with no finishing line. In the process, the government boast about THEIR OWN ACHIEVEMENT taking credit for the huge surpluses and reserves, then paying themselves extraordinary remunerations as their deserved paycheck. So, while the ordinary people try to make ends meet every day, the ruling class live off the taxpayers.

So who is taking a ride on taxpayers?

Just another example of the incompetent bunch of leaders we have. If this is an example of division one, then we are doomed. VOTE THE PAP OUT at the next elections.

Today I witnessed something sad…ahead of me in a queue at Shop & Save, there was an old lady around 60+ years old. He pushed a small trolley and cut a pitiful figure. It was around 5+ pm and she bought 2 small packets of kueh (which probably is her dinner and supper). She looked at the coke at the cashier’s shelf and ask the cashier to check the price…”$2..” was the reply from the cashier, she decided not to buy it. She then paid for her kueh was which $3.20 for the 2 packets. She digged deep down into her purse and took some time to take out the money to pay for the kueh.

How many of us are like this old lady,…we have to scrimp and save just to make ends meet?

cheers.

136) raymond on December 27th, 2008 9.42 pm

I do came across similar incident sometime 2 weeks ago at the bukit merah central post office where an elderly woman was paying for her utlities bill, handing over the bill, she was asking how much is the bill amount and the cashier told her something like $36 and some cents, she paused for awhile and asked again if she can just pay only $30/- instead. The scene makes me feel real sad to see there are still case here in Singapore. I believe there are still many unfortunate folks here who are having hard time living their lives and do our mighty elites knows about this? Have hearts please, ever thought if these are your parents?

Know what are the best stock to buy in a up market or especially during recession in Singapore?

(1) SMRT (2) SBS Transit

Good money to be made from the lower income and the poor.

Raymond Lim already getting a free ride with taxpayers money. We are paying him to talk Co<k

To top it it all taking PTC side and protecting PTC.

It is all you Singaporean fault for voting for Raymond LIM GRC in the last election. YOU pay for your dumb mistakes.

I had written a letter to My Paper regarding the issue oil prices which correlate to fare increase and electricity tariff. My article was published today.

is it true that
sgd currency to be weakened,
income tax to be raised ?
how about GST ? any hike coming?

will 2009 be worse than 2008?

Hi pissed…don’t be so angry….but i thought Raymond was in a walkover GRC? so nobody vote him in.
well,it is true that SGD will continue to be weaken in the coming year, and it is not surprising. to boost export/growth, they will do that and that is at the expense of import and the rising cost of the majority of commodities.

Yes I believe him. Transport fares are not linked to oil proces, government appointment are not linked to talent and Ministers salary is not linked to their performance. If it were true than we will have to lower the transport fares, fire some officials including MPs who handle the TC funds and finally we would have to sack a few Ministers. So the moral of the story is that nothing is linked to anything, except your HDB upgrading works to elections

Yes I believe him. Transport fares are not linked to oil prices, government appointment are not linked to talent and Ministers salary is not linked to their performance. If it were true than we will have to lower the transport fares, fire some officials including MPs who handle the TC funds and finally we would have to sack a few Ministers. So the moral of the story is that nothing is linked to anything, except your HDB upgrading works to elections

DIESEL AT ITS PEAK IN JULY 2008 COST $2.00 PER LITRE
TODAY DIESEL COST $1. 24 PER LITRE
DIFFERENCE IS ALMOST 75 CENTS OR 35 %.
ONE MILLION LITRES A DAY BRINGS DOWN COST TO $750 K
10 DAYS $7.5 MILLION FOR OPERATORS.
100 DAYS $ 75 MILLION FOR OPERATORS
365 DAYS – $260 MILLION FOR SHARE HOLDERS THANKS TO RAYMOND LIM !!

Visit petrolwatch @ .com.sg

I wonder how they will answer when oil prices rise again in the future. The future is unpredictable and maybe oil prices will shoot up higher than $140. They will have a tough time justifying their actions when they attempt to raise fares again.

146) Angered Sigh on December 29th, 2008 9.55 pm
I wonder how they will answer when oil prices rise again in the future. The future is unpredictable and maybe oil prices will shoot up higher than $140. They will have a tough time justifying their actions when they attempt to raise fares again.

Don’t worry, they will justify themselves in time to come, what’s new with these MIW, nothing but only knows how to screw the people time and again all these years.

This is so insulting given that Singaporeans are generally more educated now when compared to our pioneering generations. Yet, they still assume we’ve no common sense by saying things like that.

Even if given the benefit of a doubt, and he meant otherwise, the way the message was conveyed is wrong and blatantly misleading.

Very disappointing. Almost shameless.

If my pay is linked to the highest paid bosses, my natural instinct would be to use my power to influence the situation so that the bosses would make as much money as possible. The low income people who take buses and MRT’s have got nothing to do with my pay, do they?

Commonsense is invalid in a society rule by decree, it is the words of your rulers that count.

Modern day imperialism is professionally executed with a touch of pseudo democracy aka ‘consultative rule’.

patriot

As for Minister’s remarks on “no direct link between the oil price and the transport fare”, let’s look at the matter from a more positive side. Perhaps at the point of the decision made, the link between oil price and transport fare was intentionally not linked so that the public would not have to pay more when the oil price increased. This is a good intention of the Authority. However, the issue has taken a turn beyond anybody’s prediction. The oil price is now heading south. Let’s take his words but the Authority must ensure that there will be no transport fare increase when the oil price has gone up in the future.

My view is that eventhough they are now operated by private companies, Government ought to subsidize public transport fares to a certain extend as the fares are rather high nowdays. Like health services, public transport is essential for all people especially the lower income groups who cannot afford to have cars. So, the fares should be pegged at a comfortable level where all Singaporeans could afford. This is what is being done in many countries and this also shows that the Government cares for the people.

heres a nice article by Seah Chiang Nee comparing Singapore and Taipeh MRT
http://www.littlespeck.com/content/development/CTrendsDev-081230.htm

excerpts:

Tracking the MRTs

Singapore population: 4.6m
Length of MRT: 109.4km
No. of MRT stations: 66
No of MRT lines: five
Average daily ridership: 1.56m
Average ticket price: S$1.00
Average trip distance: 11.2km
Total passenger-trip distance
(passengers times km traveled) annually: 5,714.5km
Average daily train runs: Just over 1,000

Taipei population: 5.5m
Length of MRT: 74.7km
No. of MRT stations: 69
No of MRT lines: eight
Average daily ridership: 1.14m
Average ticket price: NT21.9 (S$1.00)
Average trip distance: 7.9km
Total passenger-trip distance
(passengers times km traveled) annually: 3,298.9km
Average daily train runs: 2,171

I would just like to raise an query on SMRT and ComfortDelGro (which owns SBSTransit): To what extent to they belong to the SG Govt?

By name, they are “private companies”, but from some lazy wikipedia research, the SG Govt has a huge stake in SMRT (54%) via Temasek Holdings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temasek_Holdings‘_investments

Wouldn’t there be a conflict of interest since fares are “governed” by the PTC, a government body, if profits eventually would (partially) accrue to the govt too?

Just raising up a possible scenario yep. Cos things aren’t particularly transparent sometimes.

They (the Gang of 3 = father, son and daughter-in-law) cannot lower any profits from those GIC-linked and Terma-sick companies that are making profits. Because they have to do smart accounting to look good for the yearly reports.

So, in order to make up for the huge losses make by a maniac who went on a global buying-spree by throwing away our good money for those bad banks and big businesses, profits from local companies must continue to rise.

That is what the Sting Ray Lim was saying.

Directly or indirectly linked it does not change the fact that public transportation and petrol costs have increased. No amount of smoke ((or mirrors) can change facts.

P.S> @ #154 Sting Ray Lim is right!

The Only Minister on Earth who claim Transport fares not linked to oil prices.
And Why S’pore Govt still hire him?

This is becos $$ is needed to pay the Ministers HIGH salaries….