~by: Ravi Philemon~
~pictures: Terry Xu~
I still remember as a young boy, in the 70s, waiting for more than an hour for the bus to arrive. I also remember that if you wanted to go to Sembawang (where some of my father’s friends lived), there were no bus services.
In the 80s, I was in secondary school, and I remember the transition from a two-man operating system to the one-man-operating system and finally to the cashless system. The buses were often late and when they arrived, they were crowded.
When the trains finally arrived in the mid 80s, it was a wish come true! We had air-conditioned public transport. There were places to sit. But most of all we zipped through from point A to point B quite quickly. Suddenly there was a quantum leap in Singapore’s transport capacity.
The effective and efficient trains were symbolic of Singapore. There was a certain pride in calling yourself a Singaporean – a city which had the will to make quantum leaps.
Fast-forward to the year 2011. ‘Competition’ injected into the public transport system by the government – to ensure that the public transport operators would not fall into inefficient operations and to minimise wastage – had spiralled out of control, because there was no real competition. The public transport operators operated like unregulated monopolies in their areas of operation. The PTOs quest for profit maximisation probably led to SMRT losing its “core competency in the management of train network while it was developing new and alternative revenue streams” (see Kumaran Pillai’s speech).
“This is the reason why the profits of the two operators have risen manifold since 2003. In 2003, SMRT’s profit was $72 million, as at 31 March 2011, SMRT’s net-profit was $161.1 million. Comfort DelGro’s profit in 2003 was $134 million, its net-profit was $228.5 million, as at 31 December 2010.
Despite these high incomes, generated by the PTO, PTC has never not approved applications for fare adjustments by the PTO. PTC has been heavily criticised repeatedly because of this and also because the regulator is perceived to be more pro-PTO than pro-commuters.
For example, commuters who do not pay the correct fare on public transports, will be fined S$20, while those who abuse concession cards face a penalty of S$50. An additional penalty of S$1,000 will be imposed if the cheating commuter does not pay the fine; and repeat offenders may be fined S$2,000 or be jailed up to six months, or both.
These penalties are many times more than the value of a single trip on the public transport, and it is meant as a deterrent for the fare cheats.
The PTO however have no such effective deterrent for failing Quality of Services (QoS) standards. The penalty for each non-compliant day on each non-compliant route for both headway adherence and loading is only $100; which means that it is more profitable for the PTO to breach QoS standards instead of investing in capacity/infrastructure to meet QoS requirements.
The PTO have enjoyed the carrot, but have never enjoyed the stick of punitive sanctions.” – TOC Editorial dated 26 July 2011
From 2010, there have been over 40 disruptions in train services. Vandals had broken into SMRT train depot to vandalise the trains on two occasions, raising concerns of security. SMRT has never taken responsibility for any of these failures. In fact, SMRT has tried to shift the blame to the security company when they were questioned for the security lapse in their depot.
The question TOC editorial raised in July 2011 seems louder today, “Why are Quality of Service standards not linked to fare increases?”
In light of all these serious lapses in Quality of Service (QoS) standards by SMRT, the Public Transport Council (PTC) should reverse the 1 per cent fare increase they approved in August of this year. PTC should also tie future fare increases to QoS standards. And all future fare revisions must be tied to QoS standards.
TOC’s head of Chinese section, Goh Meng Seng, said on his Facebook that SMRT perhaps spends only about 8 per cent of their revenue on repair and maintenance, while train service operators in other countries spend about 18 – 30 per cent of their profits for this. There is an absolute necessity for SMRT to give the people of Singapore a full accounting of what it spends on maintenance. SMRT must also release its maintenance records for the last 5 years with comparison to industry standards.
Why do I say that the story of the SMRT is the story of Singapore? Because the early leaders of the country put in place various rigorous systems for governing the nation, and the leaders who came after them assumed that these systems are fool-proof; that you only need to put in place trusted aides to maintain these systems and everything will be fine.
From Mas Selamat to the flooding; and now with the serious failure of the mass rapid transit system, we know now that these assumptions are flawed.
But the real sad news is that almost everybody seems to have no courage to say that ‘the emperor has no clothes’. At the media interview with Saw Phaik Hwa a couple of days ago, it was a journalist from the foreign media who asked her if she would resign. The reporters from the local media were all too happy to print her response without asking her all the hard questions.
The trust in the infallibility of the old systems is so deep that it seems to have contributed to the lack of regulatory oversight. I mean, how can the Transport Minister say, “I do not know if these are isolated incidents or whether there are systemic and more serious underlying issues causing these breakdowns.” How could he not know?
It is the safety and the health of the commuters that are at risk! A TOC reader wrote to us that her heavily pregnant sister-in-law was trapped in the train for 45 minutes. Two were hospitalised. Countless others were trapped in a train with no lights and no ventilation. People are walking on the train tracks…
This is not the Singapore I know! These trusted aides who are not doing what they ought to be doing have (in the words of a friend), “contributed to the system rot and atrophy”.
Somebody must take responsibility for the failure of SMRT. At the media conference on Friday, SMRT’s CEO, Ms Saw said that she will see to it that there will not be a recurrence of such breakdowns. But on Saturday morning, there was another such recurrence and services were disrupted from Ang Mo Kio to Marina Bay.
The CEO of SMRT must do the right thing, take responsibility for the failures of SMRT and resign. Her resignation will be highly symbolic and will go a long way in restoring the confidence of the people in the system – not just the MRT system.
And while they are at it, SMRT should not only refund the fares of the commuters who are affected by their service disruptions on Thursday and Saturday; they should also (as Eric Tan rightly pointed out in his speech today) give free, complimentary rides to all the affected commuters for one whole month.
And SMRT can certainly afford it!
HELP keep the voice of TOC alive!
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spacecow
To be truthful, we must understand the whole thing about people being spoilt by good services to expect better ones or ministers and train CEO being spoilt like the prima donna footballer by the self-taking and self-raiding of millions through legalised corruption, cronyism.
Which is which?
Personally i feel e mgmt level shld be penalized & fix e issue we r hvg now before resigning! sure running away from problem is just too easy for these high paid mgmt…aside from suffering from e crippled transportation system, i do pity e working levels of SMRT.
Is cheaper really better afterall
When sg workers were mostly taking care of o ur mrt trains.there was less problems.
Everywhere,the productivity is not only poor.it is atrocious.
This only serves to confirm the high standatds of our own sg workers.
Pay peanuts.you get monkeys.
So Lui is saying that all the emergency exercises are so staged and wayang that it has cannot be employed on real life situation such as this? Than why so much time and effort conducting execises that were totally useless. What was so great about TOTAL DEFENCE this country when the “elite” just wanted to follow protocol and allowed problems to last for hours before they surrender to it?
What signal does it give to potential terrorist?? Are commuters life so cheap that all the top management care about was how to cut down maintenance cost and milk more profit from the flawed structure?
Based on the Evidence shown clearly in the pictures from Hong Lim, we cannot deny that most citizens are terrified to even appear at Hong Lim park.
1st world!
You have no more excuses.
Admit it singaporeans!
Incapable people running the transport system. People who held no thoughts for the commuters but rather the money in their pockets. It is time for someone capable, someone who really aims to serve to step up for the position. I agree that the CEO should step down to restore confidence in the transportation system. Apologies don’t work this time. Actions must be taken.
PM Lee has emphasised many times on the need to fix the opposition and advocated a one-party rule.
He is seen as governing under the proxy or shadow of his autocratic daddy who views government negatively as a control-based punitive system.
Now, surely, he has to fix his transportation problems first before fixing the oppositions or feedback misinformation of internet and social media advocated by his minister Yaacob.
a public ‘good’ should not be privatized when the benefits of privatization cannot be reaped by the intended beneficiaries(in this case commuters) in a realistic manner.
All these people SACRIFICED themselves for us.
This is a form of True SACRIFICE.
Sacrifice for the People.
Most citizens DARE NOT protest, which is an accepted and world recognised unique behavior on this planet.
Allow me digress.
While Saw has performed poorly, she must not Resign.
She helming SMRT can serve as a reminder of lessons learnt. Each day from now, when taking the MRT we have a chance to be reminded of the CEO of SMRT.
So, she MUST NOT Resign.
So, this is only where i differ from TOC.
Saw must not resign.
We need her.
PM announced that there will be a public inquiry. My question back to him is WHO will end up paying for the incompetence of your team that leads to the need to pay for the inquiry?
Will all your incompetent merry men’s bonus be used to pay for the inquiry? Or will you use our tax money again to pay for their mistakes again?!
Singaporeans should not expect a disruption-free public transport system. The reasons are, it is unavoidable and no amount of engineering could solve the problem.
The train system in Singapore is the simplest system compared to other cities like Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, New York city, London and Paris. Yet, the CEO of the Singapore system has the highest pay. Does it make any sense?
Meritocracy doesn’t work in quite the same way among our policy makers, as it does in the private sector. In the private secotr, whether rain or shine, the top management takes unquestioned accountability, and people get fired for blunders. With policy makers, I get the impression that accountability only comes in when election results are poor, and when a crisis strikes. Of course, we are still not talking about accountability in the sense that someone needs to be fired. We haven’t reached that level. Otherwise, they zip through days after days, collecting huge pay packets. If only life were that simple in the real world.
It is only right for the Singapore government to explain to Singaporeans, why was the SMRT CEO chosen for the job in the first place. What was the CEO’s track records before joining smrt? The same questions go to many many similar appointment in the Government linked companies and stat boards. eg how was the LTA chairman chosen?
@CNBC -”It is only rite for the gov’t to explain to Singaporeans ? ”
Hmmmmmmm ???
I wonder where is LHL ?
Probably, busy Peeeeing somewhere ?
We should not forget that there is a Minister co-ordinating “anti-terrorism” in Singapore. Did this Minister ever check on the safty of public transportation during crisis?
Well done, TOC. I have been monitoring the reactions of outraged Singaporeans, including the so-called new generation in-tune PAP MPs who say they will speak up on behalf of their constituents should the need arise. There can be no better national issue than the MRT mess up for everyone to speak up on, whatever your political affiliation. Here is my short and sweet summary of the reactions for Singaporeans to note and act on:
“Courageous” PAP MPs: Not a squeak.
SDP: ? (as of today, Dec 18)
Tan Jee Say: ? ( as of today)
PKMS: Not a squeak.
President Tony Tan: Not a squeak.
SPP: Strong statement from Lina Chiam
WP: Very strong statement (three cheers).
NSP: Nothing heard (as of Dec 18).
SPH media: Fairly investigative. Not too bad.
Mediacorp: Trying to give impression of being on top of situation but kept holding off the hard questions. Usual sycophantic wayang act.
Yahoo News: On the ball.
TOC: The best reaction so far – very pro-active, very detailed, well reasoned.
Congrats, TOC. Keep it up.
i was in coffee shop.. many old folks asked what’s wrong with the pap gov?? 1st world?
Some said authoritarian rule is the culprit.. controlled media, curtailed rights, no freedom of speech and assembly.. one party rule, one party dominant parliament, lkyism.. ministers are shaking legs, enjoying super pay but doing nothing except most of time thinking how to fix opp.
Pap gov is a peace time gov, they don’t have emergency role.. pap ministers have not been put to severe tests in the last 5 decades under authoritarian rule– one man calls all the shots.
Hong Kong has a records of 1 million protestors went to streets, our pap-nurtured police are trained to deal with one or two opp leaders selling books or giving speeches on the streets, no threats of strikes, riots and other emergency scenarios.
Likewise, smrt knows to create huge profit, but poor in contigency plans –appalling.
Supremo LKY:” Vote opposition and repent for
the next five years.”
Well, well! 60.1% voted for PAP and see what a mess we’re in!!
Daft Singaporeans are paying millions of $$$
to a bunch of ….you know what???
Where is the Prime Minister???
Addendum:
Apologies. SDP did send out a strong statement – well done.
@leehsientow
Your KPI chart is good. Keep it up.
SpeakUpNow
5:26 pm (Quote) on December 18th, 2011
Welcome back TR! Missed you greatly and just in time for SMRT fiasco & blunders.
Make sure that Google Bot catches you quick so that more readers are able to reach you as most folks think that you are gone for good.
Lastly, Saw Phaik Hwa can balek kampong to mudland Malaysia with one kick from all of us netizens. UNITE!
TR, you need to do an article why Saw Phaik Hwa is hard to get rid of due to Temasek Holdings & Ho Ching. See sammyboy forum.
Saw is with ho Ching as buddies to help her to consolidate powers, in turn help lee dynasty.
The minister lty and Josephine should be ashamed together with saw and it’s top smrt executives, and also lta top executives and be fired.
If not they are like animals who knows no shame of guilt and responsibility. Common folks better than these top executives and government officials. The lhl or known as pm should really chop one of his ‘finger’ by sacking these people to stop the smrt and taxis companies from rotting.
If deregulation to privatize does not benefit citizens, but only shareholders and top executives, then the pappies should step in to really not penalized by huge fines which increase prices. Time to stop saying sorry and crying even before Ge which won’t help anymore.
Please stop wayang…. For once reduce prices of fares to lower than previous and encourage positive ridership, not forced and compulsory ridership of public transport. Erp and high Coe like housing cov pls stop. Cars should not be luxury for sales people and needy people, taxis they should not be paying erp or some cabs in some days like cities in china where they can go into CBd to ease congestion.
Look at her number 2 man, he sounds more like a HR person from what he is trained and he is responsible for the train, bus, taxi, business units, Safety, Security and Emergency Planning,
——————
Why are we hiring all these BIG LEMON to take charge of our strategic asset like MRT.
———————–
YEO MENG HIN
Deputy President & Chief Operating Officer
SMRT Corporation Ltd
Yeo Meng Hin, 46, is responsible for the train, bus, taxi business units, Safety, Security and Emergency Planning, organisation Development Unit as well as SMRT’s business development in Singapore and overseas.
Prior to SMRT, Mr Yeo was part of the top management team for DFS Asia Pacifi c Operations with expertise in strategic oversight of the business. He has worked in a diverse range of industries including hospitality, fast food, professional services, property and fi nancial services. Besides human resource, he has experience in logistics and consultancy. Mr Yeo is a member of the SAFRA staff establishment
committee, a member of iCare Mental Health Alliance, which promotes good health practices among companies
in Singapore, and sits on the HR Accreditation Board of the Singapore Human Resources Institute. He is
also a member of the steering committee to the Saudi-Singapore Business Council.
A graduate from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts (Economics), Mr Yeo also holds a
Masters in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and a Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management. He is also a Certifi ed Compensation
Professional and a Global Remuneration Professional
What can we say NOW !!!
Wah lan, a BA degree HR officer kaki end up being COO of SMRT! If this is not cronyism, I do not know what else is!
My gosh!! “University of Phoenix!!” This is one of the biggest degree mill, why in the world did he think it is a good idea to brag about this qualification?!
Hello everyone, I’ll resign after collecting my bonus and use all my share options. Be patient and bear with me a little more, thanks.
$$$ want many many! Work want easy easy.
It would be interesting to map all the CEOs and Board of Directors of Singapore government-linked companies, stat boards, MPs, Ministers and see how the social web looks like.
Who is truly independent? Who got in by connections and not by true ability? Have these ‘privileged’ / rubber-stamped people been living in the clouds and therefore no longer able to identify with the woes of the people of Singapore? Have they all become the untouchables? Hence the arrogance? Do all of them think that they now control Singapore’s economy that they dismiss real issues on the ground?
I dare say, if you put some of these characters and pit their abilities against the high performers in the private sector, they will fail miserably. They have long benefited from the safety net and PAP umbrella, with the ignorant people thinking that if they are selected by the government, they must be worthy. Gawd, no.
For all u know. Saw may get a big fat bonus n pay increase after this matter settled down. Reason – she oversaw n minimised the biggest transport problem in Spore, the media n gahment will whitewash everything as usual. May evev get a medal n then transfer to another GLC. Just watch.
saw just mentioned not resigning…
no action taken… next time bankruptcy no need take responsibility, similarly for other people having faults?
sg and pappies are heading for their next ge major defeat…
daft singaporeans, we are doomed…
wakie wake up…
Ms Saw is an ardent practitioner of taiji and sits on the Council of the Singapore Jian Chuan Tai Chi Chuan Physical Culture Association as President and as Vice President on the Executive Committee of the International Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan Federation. She is also appointed
as Governor for Singapore and Malaysia for the international body of Wu’s Tai Chi Chuan Academy as well as 3rd Vice Chairman of Singapore Wushu Dragon & Lion Dance Federation.
SINGAPORE: SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa has told Channel NewsAsia that she has no plans to step down over the disruptions.
She said she’s truly sorry for the inconvenience and discomfort faced by commuters, and that as CEO she’s naturally responsible.
But she said being responsible does not mean walking away, instead it means doing all she can to get the problem fixed.
She said she is staying put to make everything right.
Ms Saw also admitted there were several problems that surfaced during the disruptions.
These included detraining procedures, announcements to the public, and bus shuttling arrangements.
She acknowledged that SMRT could have done better.
- CNA/ck
Ms Saw and Mr Yeo, after all these years where these problems that surfaces recently are accumulated with years of neglect to maintenance, safety and well being of the commuters for the sake of profitability so that you get paid handsomely are like skeletons falling ou from the cupboard. Are both of you qualified to lead ??? Please …..
In order to encourage the government backed COI to be formed faster and present objective recommendations, I propose that the opposition parties in parliament get to together to form a separate Commission of Inquiry and/or make an official request to sit in at all COI meetings.
This watching brief will ensure transparency and accountability and if there is nothing to hide, there is no reason not to agree to this simple request.
“Robert Teh18 December 2011
@leehsientow
Your KPI chart is good. Keep it up.”:
Humbly thank you.
Apropos some of the people who have not commented on the MRT fiasco, the answer probably is that they are chauffeured around or don’t take the MRT or any public transport. They are not affected. Well, voters, you know what to do the next time you come across their names in any election in future. Just don’t vote for them.
After the so-called complete thorough checking, it was announced through the media that due to the several damaged trains, reduced speed limits, commuters are to expect slightly longer commute duration & reduced frequency even during peak hour! But with no mention of any improvement plans? Speechless
“Well, voters, you know what to do the next time you come across their names in any election in future. Just don’t vote for them.”
People have short term memory. Need to be reminded in the next GE!
I do not want incompetent people as MPs. If they can’t handle their jobs well in the private sector or quasi-private sector, what makes them suitable to run for elections? Don’t want to waste my tax dollars on such people.
Only a small number of protestors at Hong Lim Park, of course she is not going to resign.
Singaporeans are not serious about issues. It is just a waste of time. We have to wait till there is lost of lives then can we really see people coming forward. Then can we finally see head start rolling at the SMRT.
She is a FT KL-born, Singapore have no talent left.
http://themalaysianinsider.com/world/article/singapore-mrt-breakdowns-douse-christmas-cheer
We have all reason to say that the source of problem is pap: now that LuiFYew says they have to slow down the speed of the train.
Ask them to slow down and stop the influx of foreign trash first!
They speed up the train to meet the increased load, if they had not increased the people, there is no need to increase trains or speed at all.
F-pap.
hello folks, our shit leaders who make policies like to increase foreign trash are the people who talk and view from their limousines.
Is this the 60% who voted for pap wants?
MRT fare will increase faster from now due to the increasing cost involve to assure everyone a smooth ride, where would the money come from to have regular check and replacement of parts?
Blame it on the influx of FT is just showing your ignorant to the Singapore economy, if PAP had done differently I would say it would make little different to the lower income group but middle income would have a lot less opportunities and the rich would be hardest hit. Who cares if you can’t upgrade from HDB to private condo, who cares if the posh businesses serving the rich have to close down. The people who cares are the younger generation because they would start to migrate if the opportunities are not here but again there are a huge group from every generation that have no clue what is happening except complaining.
SMRT
Saw Must Really Tender RESIGNATION
When WKS got away scot-free from Mas Selamat escape the signal was clear….Sing will be trending down. There is no downside to poor planning & execution at top levels. HC losses, etc. Now Smrt
When there is a major failure like this, would thr CEO and the top executives of SMRT be penalised with a pay-cut or be denied fat bonuses for the year?? Or will they go further to ‘justify’ fare increases citing more maintenance cost due to aging of the train system, and at the end of the year, pay themselves fat million$ bonuses again.
Resign is not running away from problem, it is to take resposibily and amit incompetance and allowed more capable person to take care of the problem. A sales peoson cannot take care of engineering problem so let engineer take over.
Hi Ravi, kindly make the distinction between revenue and profits.
Naturally, the Paps will not let Saw go…very lao kui for them to admit they made a mistake. Just look at how they handled the TPL debacle.
Aya, so simple. I’ve already suggested long time ago. In future, any screw up by any CEO who refuse to step down and insist to hang on the position must DONATE 1 year of their annual salary + bonus for their 1st major screw up to the VICTIMS!
2nd screw-up : 2 years of their salary+ bonus etc.
This apply to the recent flooding, housing etc.
People please support the idea and pass thro the bill in Paliamen.
CEO in public service sector : wake up your idea and stop dreaming in your office!
frankly speaking, after having experienced the train delays, cancellations of melbounre’s train network for the 4 years i was studying there, i thought to myself, i am coming back to a higher standard of public train service in singapore. how wrong i am!
Although i did not suffer the inconveniences on thu and sat, thankfully, considering i zipped along from far west to far east and back 4 times on thu, i am amazed how ill prepared smrt is to handle such breakdowns. although there were frequent train disrruptions in melbourne, they at least will quickly kick in bus transfers. there was even once when they gave ALL passengers ONE FREE DAY of RIDE.
i’ve read commenters who are resigned to the breakdowns due to wear and tear. true but ever since a hongkong company took over the melbourne train network,they have made extensive repairs and breakdowns have not occurred since!
and all this is coming from a city that does not even prioritise public transportation above private. understandably since its population of 4 million is more spreaded out.
smrt should not make wear and tear an excuse. they are meant to be fixed if problems start to arise.