Bus, taxi fare cheats could end up in jail
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If they can churn out a figure of fares lost to cheats and enact laws to
deter/punish cheaters, I don't see why they aren't churning out a similar figure for overcharging and enact laws to deter/punish operators for consistently have a buggy system that overcharges.
Fare play looks more foul than fair.
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This is my take:
QN: Why we cheat:
ANS: We cheat because it is human nature to do so. Not just Singaporeans, but everyone else in the world. Why pay more if there is even a slight chance to pay less? We see this as a warped concept of savings and every cent saved per trip contributes to somewhere else. In europe, where they claim to be a developed community, the public transport system utilises a ticket validity system. The system is based 100% on honesty. You have to purchase your own ticket and validate your ticket before you board the train/bus. Should you be caught in random inspections, you are not asked to pay the balance but will be fined up to 80 euros! (almost 160 S$)
QN: Is it fair to jail a person for cheating on a bus?
ANS: This is seen as a deterent move to stamp out widespread cheating, especially among school tertiary students and above who do not have access to concession passes. Then again, knowing that our two main bus services in SBS transit and SMRT are govt-linked leaves no doubt that this is politically motivated as it would have taken a significant amount of lobbying at legislation level to succeed. A privately run enterprise would have been stonewalled and heavily criticised over an inept monitoring system with loops holes that cheats exploit. (EZ-link comes to mind at this point)
I would have been in favour for a heavier fine and a booking system that records past cheaters rather than the threat of jail looming over cheat wannabes. Jail seems harsh and certainly not equitable to this minor offence.
QN: What is the ultimate decision for such a drastic amendment?
ANS: Our inadequacies in developing a fullproof ticketing system (too much bravado and too little substance in the case of EZ link) , inept management unable to find alternative solutions to a loss in sales steming from cheats (what are the stats? Or is this a smoking gun?) and ultimately, this is the new 'prevention is better than cure' syndrome. By threatening an overkill penalty, the hope is that cheats in their infant stage will be scared off before they seriously challenge the system. -
Several people interviewed by ST yesterday indicated being overcharged multiple times on various trips.
Public Transport Council claimed that they must have forgetten to tap their cards. Then when the same commuters were overcharged again for another 5 trips, they claimed that there was a problem between automated and manual settings by drivers.
LTA supremo Yeo CT himself claimed that we have developed a good system and have advanced public transport.
Is he trying to cook an already boiled egg? Who is he kdding? All the public transport council and LTA provide are lame excuses again and again. The commuters who seek claims for overcharge must be furious when the blame is thrown back on them.
Like any computer program, patches need to be installed to upgrade the system periodically. Since when can anyone develop a proprietary system and claim it's bugproof at the same time? I don't see any follow-up work being performed in this aspect? Is our PTC and LTA so arrogant they are willing to sweep aside objective criticism and glaring errors in the EZ link system and claim it's a SUCCESS?
Worse, are they swatting aside commuter complaints over the obvious faults in the system and instead counter-claiming user dysfunction? Instead of addressing the REAL problem, they impose ridiculous penalties against cheaters (who arguably contribute a negligable proportion of the problem).
This entire episode stinks of glossing over their own mistakes by blowing-up the small issues of others as a cover-up. -
There was once I saw this bef, the passenger boarded @ Opp Coronation Plaza, he tapped his card at the next bus stop that is University Road bus stop. Yet he alighted at MacPherson Rd...
Seems he does that as a habit everyday -
if u baotoh him will u get rewarded ?Originally posted by sbst275:There was once I saw this bef, the passenger boarded @ Opp Coronation Plaza, he tapped his card at the next bus stop that is University Road bus stop. Yet he alighted at MacPherson Rd...
Seems he does that as a habit everyday -
Why would pppl ceat? because they no money to eat.
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No...Originally posted by FireIce:if u baotoh him will u get rewarded ?
Later kena black eye for reporting him
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If I snitch on him and receive 1 year's free ride on public buses, I reeally wouldn't mind.Originally posted by FireIce:if u baotoh him will u get rewarded ? -
fark lah those taxi driver who lost their way or take long route shd go to jail. knnOriginally posted by stellazio:Knn,then sometime i want to exit the stupid machine cannot tap,bo bian i must go down..Sometimes taxi driver purposely run circle can charge them also? 
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I am so happy I cheated all the time on my fares all these years until the Ezlink system finally came out. Heck, there were occasions the bus so crowded I got away with not even paying a single cent. These memories give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.
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Until the day they can come up with a perfectly foolproof system which doesn't cheat bus passengers of their fares at all, this law should not be implemented at all.
Otherwise, that just smacks of pure hypocrisy. -
Nothing man-made, can ever be, FOOLPROOF.
There is no PERFECTION.
What matters topically here, is WHO erred.
We are inexcusable, while THEY are.
The Boss, can NEVER be WRONG. Always RIGHT.
Get it? -
I noticed that most of the replies in the thread are gravitiated towards unfairness towards the passenger. But what about the Bus company? What about the Bus Drivers? Did you not spare a thought for them? They have families to feed and parents to support. If the company would incur a loss of 8-9 million because of cheating passengers, this would mean that employees of the company would be losing out on their bonuses and salary.
So please think of the bus drivers as well. -
The VLS now sort sort one not so smart. Some time took the bus with the VLS thing it never update by itself and need the driver to do that. That time took the bus and the fare stages was unstable going up and down. Some end up pay more because of that. Spend so much on the VLS and not so successful(for me) Should spend more on improving the transport system meaningfully and not those that are uselessOriginally posted by sbst275:By right, the VLS system should be smarter, can pick up ppl trying to scan the card at the same bus stop
As of overcharging, 1 suggestion, when you board the bus, do take a look at the fare stage as with when you alight. Any prob, tell the driver -
If like that it would be very chaotic alreadyOriginally posted by FireIce:if u baotoh him will u get rewarded ? Anyhow accusing people to get rewarded -
Some svs, the VLS on the buses is screwed upOriginally posted by gorby107:The VLS now sort sort one not so smart. Some time took the bus with the VLS thing it never update by itself and need the driver to do that. That time took the bus and the fare stages was unstable going up and down. Some end up pay more because of that. Spend so much on the VLS and not so successful(for me) Should spend more on improving the transport system meaningfully and not those that are useless -
What about the taxi drivers that like to bring me go "Holland" or "hor lan."? Can send them to jail for over charging?
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therefore we should send one board member to jail for every one person who gets cheated by the stupid systems since the board decided to do the system. in fact we should also send the pple who decided to force teh ezlink card on us at the same time. one year per person sounds good to meOriginally posted by gorby107:The VLS now sort sort one not so smart. Some time took the bus with the VLS thing it never update by itself and need the driver to do that. That time took the bus and the fare stages was unstable going up and down. Some end up pay more because of that. Spend so much on the VLS and not so successful(for me) Should spend more on improving the transport system meaningfully and not those that are useless -
ya and i expect the CEO pays to go up by 20% tooOriginally posted by shade343:No wonder the divedends paid by SBS is so litlle for the past few years....with the new laws in effect, I expect to see a 10% increase in dividend payouts...
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+1Originally posted by hisoka:therefore we should send one board member to jail for every one person who gets cheated by the stupid systems since the board decided to do the system. in fact we should also send the pple who decided to force teh ezlink card on us at the same time. one year per person sounds good to me -
oh yeha one wonders if they couldn't catch the pple who cheated how did they come up with the 9 million figure? i sense some agency playing fast and loose with figures with very generous estimations
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think abt the drivers ? i think you shd tell the co management tat. bus co earn million and millions every yr but bus driver pay is still so miserable so more hire so many malaysians.Originally posted by shade343:I noticed that most of the replies in the thread are gravitiated towards unfairness towards the passenger. But what about the Bus company? What about the Bus Drivers? Did you not spare a thought for them? They have families to feed and parents to support. If the company would incur a loss of 8-9 million because of cheating passengers, this would mean that employees of the company would be losing out on their bonuses and salary.
So please think of the bus drivers as well. -
There is a difference between condemning a company and condemning its employees.Originally posted by shade343:I noticed that most of the replies in the thread are gravitiated towards unfairness towards the passenger. But what about the Bus company? What about the Bus Drivers? Did you not spare a thought for them? They have families to feed and parents to support. If the company would incur a loss of 8-9 million because of cheating passengers, this would mean that employees of the company would be losing out on their bonuses and salary.
So please think of the bus drivers as well.
SBS transit and SMRT are making millions. They DECLARED it in their annual earnings report. Their top brass undoubtedly receives profit sharing bonuses.
We should not confuse low pay with the cheating cost loss in revenue. Ultimately, a quick glance at the profit margin will show that it has a marginal (almost negligible) impact on the earnings.
The focus of these companies should not be to legislate to solve their problems, but instead to implement problem solving solutions.
Crying to the govt will not succeed if one was a 100% privatised firm. -
Yeah man.Originally posted by hisoka:oh yeha one wonders if they couldn't catch the pple who cheated how did they come up with the 9 million figure? i sense some agency playing fast and loose with figures with very generous estimations
And to penalise the drivers for loss corporate income is not the way for a PUBLIC transport operator..
Some people clearly need a dictionary.Need the audio tape version too while they're at it?
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how many million did they over charged ?Originally posted by hisoka:oh yeha one wonders if they couldn't catch the pple who cheated how did they come up with the 9 million figure? i sense some agency playing fast and loose with figures with very generous estimations