Bus, taxi fare cheats could end up in jail
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Like real, they would still be, making $56MOriginally posted by shade343:Without the taxwrite back, SMRT would be in the red.
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Yar yar yarOriginally posted by shade343:They are also quite creative by creating more leasable space.
That is just to curb rising fuel prices now...
Practically, only that space is making SMRT profit rise, MRT and buse are falling that's to that CEO -
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sammyboymod/messages/?msg=82667
We are going to have a law to put commuters who cheat on bus fare in jail.
Since we need a law to enforce honesty, by parity of reasoning we should be expecting another law passed to jail motorists who tear their parking coupons 5 minutes later than the actual time when the coupon was placed. It's cheating too.
Likewise, some of the toilets manned by old aunties and uncles at certain shopping centres. Sometimes aunties uncles not around, some people just bedek bedek forget to pay 10 cents, pee and go. It's cheating too when they are fully aware that they need to leave the10-cent coin on the table before cabuting. -
No, in Singapore they won't do anything that ain't profitable.Originally posted by sbst275:Nope...
The issue comes to this, the cost and everything is by right set by the govt, the road tax and ERP or sort...
It cost $1200 a year for a bus's road tax vs a car's $800+. In Malaysia, a public bus road tax is RM30 a yr vs car's RM300 a year
You have to see which country you are talking abt, in Aust and UK, the govt pay the bus co to run the sv... The govt collects all of their revenue
They will die if they provide profit free deals for their people, don't you know?
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Well, everyone just wanna make profit in making biz... Just human natureOriginally posted by loosefuse:No, in Singapore they won't do anything that ain't profitable.
They will die if they provide profit free deals for their people, don't you know?
But the margin, that is the issue... -
Scrap the road tax! Scrap ERP for buses!
If aft that fares still high, then you know what to do... -
Agreed. If the bureaucrats do their part, the bus companies do their part, and commuters do their part.. then it will be better for everyone.Originally posted by sbst275:Scrap the road tax! Scrap ERP for buses!
If aft that fares still high, then you know what to do...
But the bureaucrats will probably introduce taxes in 10 other forms to recoup their losses for scraping ERP for buses.. -
Even the waive of COE, ppl @ Buses forum insist they dun recover from somewhere, sayin got concession...Originally posted by loosefuse:Agreed. If the bureaucrats do their part, the bus companies do their part, and commuters do their part.. then it will be better for everyone.
But the bureaucrats will probably introduce taxes in 10 other forms to recoup their losses for scraping ERP for buses..
Concession by right means you get better treatment abv other vehicles
Anyway, that COE, $7000 for 17 yrs... $1.12 a day, to them is peanuts... -
What kind of society is our country heading? Seems to me that to me in order to make the bus/mrt system viable, we are prepared to jail a young school kid or elderly person who may unintentionally 'cheat'. I find this argument a little lame of fixing the problem when the ticketing sytem is opened for cheating. In fact most of time people are overcharged without their knowledge.The way to go is for a fool proof system and not take the easy way out on our people.
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Then is Taxwrite backs the way to go? How can a company pivot their annual earnings with such rebates offering a large percentage of their returns?Originally posted by shade343:Like I said before, they only make the millions because of tax writebacks., as in the case of SMRT. WIthout the tax writebacks, they would probably be in the red.
The cheatings done by commuters has an indirect effect on the wages of the employees in the company as revenue and profit is affected. And 9 million SGD is not a negligible impact. 9 million SGD could result in higher wages for the employees and perhaps, slightly higher dividend payout.
Appealing to the government for help is probably a very good solution to the problem. Legislation is very effective in Singapore. This solution is also cost effective. The company does not need to incur extra charges and effectively roots out a problem which have been plaguing them for the past decade.
Legislation seems to be the babysitter's way to solve their EZlink system problem. What irates me is that they are not trying to solve a problem, merely working their way around it: PEOPLE will still CHEAT. Enacting a law will offer deterence, but not stamp out the problem.
When they amend the act, implement it and then 5 years later find that they are still short by 9 million, what other legislations are they going to amend?
Why isn't profit money being invested into tweaking the programming to ensure a bug-free system? Why are they taking the 'easy' way out? Everything will come at a cost, this is no exception. If transport companies want to reap the profits, they jolly well invest the right kind of money to improve and better their ticketing systems. -
they are making millions in the first place. now its going for every last cent and squeeze every last drop of blood from the peasants.Originally posted by highway69:What kind of society is our country heading? Seems to me that to me in order to make the bus/mrt system viable, we are prepared to jail a young school kid or elderly person who may unintentionally 'cheat'. I find this argument a little lame of fixing the problem when the ticketing sytem is opened for cheating. In fact most of time people are overcharged without their knowledge.The way to go is for a fool proof system and not take the easy way out on our people. -
CorruptiveOriginally 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
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Writebacks are 1 time off...
Who lives on these to survive? -
Sept 23, 2005
It's time the Public Transport Council listens to commuters
I am surprised that commuters are still being overcharged because of EZ-link bugs.
There could be many more cases that have gone unreported, as many of us don't check or verify the fares deducted from the cards.
I hope the new Public Transport Council will look into the following areas before the next fare increase:
1. Set up a PTC hotline and provide an email address for commuters to reach out to the council. If I am correct, this facility is not available now.
2. Set a benchmark for performance and penalise the transport companies for EZ-link over-charging.
3. Infrequent bus service and bunching. What can the council do to resolve these problems?
It's time the PTC listens to commuters.
David Soh Poh Huat -
Well, let's put it fair (Though there is in fairness in this world)Originally posted by crazy monkey:Sept 23, 2005
It's time the Public Transport Council listens to commuters
I am surprised that commuters are still being overcharged because of EZ-link bugs.
There could be many more cases that have gone unreported, as many of us don't check or verify the fares deducted from the cards.
I hope the new Public Transport Council will look into the following areas before the next fare increase:
1. Set up a PTC hotline and provide an email address for commuters to reach out to the council. If I am correct, this facility is not available now.
2. Set a benchmark for performance and penalise the transport companies for EZ-link over-charging.
3. Infrequent bus service and bunching. What can the council do to resolve these problems?
It's time the PTC listens to commuters.
David Soh Poh Huat
Infrequent bus svs, passengers please cooperate
You dun move in, you are just wasting your time and delaying the bus, the behind bus may just catch up esp if it is a double deck -
Well...my fren was caught for using his sister's pri skool ezlink card recently. Luckily he was let off with a warning...and he had to pay a fee for replacing the confiscated ez-link card.
Its no doubt that he did wrong...but it is ridiculous if he was sent to jail for that. How lame can the government get?
Imagine a scenario in changi prison....
Inmate #1: I was sent to prison for drug trafficking ...u leh??
Inmate #2: Ohhh...i committed murder lor ....how bout u siao didi??
Siao didi: Errrrrr...i was caught cheating bus fare... -
When SMRT workers nearly went on strike
Friday • September 23, 2005
Lee Ching wern
[email protected]
SINGAPOREANS take peaceful industrial relations for granted. But unknown to most, a strike that could have grounded thousands of commuters nearly took place three years ago.
In a surprising revelation yesterday, labour chief Lim Boon Heng told reporters how workers at SMRT Corporation almost went on strike in 2002 after the management backtracked on an agreement it had earlier signed with the National Transport Workers' Union (NTWU).
"Singapore has been strike-free since 1986. But three years ago, we almost had a strike in Singapore because of a disagreement in SMRT," said Mr Lim, the secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), in a media conference on the sidelines of NTUC's Pre-ordinary Delegates Conference 2005.
According to the collective agreement signed between SMRT and the union in 2001, SMRT staff were entitled to a 3 per cent service increment in 2002. But when the time came, SMRT refused to cough up the amount.
Mr Lim said: "That made the employees so unhappy that they wanted to go on strike. The strike was averted at the eleventh hour when we drew the attention of the board of directors of the company to what was happening and the matter was resolved."
According to NTWU president Mohd Yunos Awang, the dispute affected some 3,000 workers including SMRT's station staff, train operators and engineering staff. About 2,300 of NTWU's 15,000 members are from SMRT.
He told Today: "After the first few rounds of negotiations, we were informed that management refused to pay. When the workers heard about it, they started calling us with questions and we had to manage the situation. We were willing to compromise at 2.5 per cent, but the management refused.
"There was a deadlock, but we, as a union, cannot stay idle. We then told the management we were ready for industrial action."
This got the management worried. It relented and, through NTWU's executive secretary Ong Ah Heng, informed workers that SMRT would pay the promised 3 per cent.
Since 1978, Singapore has not experienced any industrial unrest, except for a two-day strike in 1986, when a branch union of the Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Employees' Union took an American company, Hydril, to task for anti-union activities.
Mr Lim, who was then NTUC assistant secretary-general, said at the time: "We don't like to see our record of strike-free industrial relations in Singapore for eight years go down the drain. But we can't allow workers to be treated this way."
To give Singaporeans a better idea of the hard work NTUC's industrial relations officers have been putting in behind closed doors, Mr Lim also cited another example. The Supreme Court recently outsourced the function of its shorthand writers to private vendors.
"Because of the narrow interpretation of certain procedures within the civil service, the employees were told that if they opted for a special resignation scheme, then they are forbidden to join the vendor that is taking over this function for this high court. So on the intervention of the union, with the support of NTUC, this matter was resolved in a way the majority of the employees found to be most acceptable," said Mr Lim. -
So far I have not witness anybody trying to cheat by tapping the card earlier than where the commuter is going to alight!There may be a small number doing such monkey acts but to impose a jail sentence or a fine of $5000 or more on such petty act may make the world laughing at a rich but stinking nation like Singapore!Why Singapore always take a shortcut to solve any problems!Why they did not take a bit of trouble to find out more and why those commuters cheat on that few cents? Are they too poor to be able to afford to pay that extra few cents, how much they have tried to help these poor people?Why they increase the bus and MRT fares in the first place when the companies are still making tons of money? Why they took a shortcut to increase fares in order to make it more profitable to please the shareholders and not cutting the excesses enjoy by their top guns? Why they did not cut wastages to save costs? Why they did not want to spend a bit to educate the public not to cheat, rather than taking a short cut to threaten or fine or jail them just because of that few cents! By doing so, there may be some unfortunate absent minded commuters going to jail for their aged and short memory or poverty!I really feel shameful to be part of this campaign to jail a poor commuter who wilfully or inadvertently cheat that few cents!
Most Singaporeans do not mind helping those who are short of coins after they board the bus! I have seen many generous Singaporeans doing that and personally I have helped many on the journey through life!Why is Singapore having such unsympathetic companies around and is Singapore proud to have them around???? -
Actually, it is not ugly...
Prob goes to us as well...
For allowing cheats and never report when seeing it
As for VLS, manual updating better -
Isn't DelGro a private company? Why should the govt help it deal with the cheats?
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Well, if your may not know stillOriginally posted by pearlie27:Isn't DelGro a private company? Why should the govt help it deal with the cheats?
The govt sort of do interfere in the earnings, dun forget they also have stakes hor -
Very simple, public transport revenue is meant for the PUBLIV mah. So if you cheat the public transport means that u cheat the PUBLIC's money loh! So u must go to jail liao!!
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Ez-link: 4,100 incorrect transactions remain
IT IS indeed heartening to learn from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) that the ez-link system achieves a 99.9 per cent reliability rate and that 'cases of wrong deductions' have decreased from 0.27 per cent to just 0.006 per cent year on year ('Ez-link system highly reliable'; ST, Sept 24).
However, beyond these statistics, there are still some hard numbers to grapple with. With the reported 4.1 million transactions a day, a 99.9 per cent reliability rate still means that 4,100 transactions are incorrectly processed each day. I can only assume this means wrong deductions. That is equivalent to almost 1.5 million erroneous deductions a year, which is a lot of money.
I would also like to ask the LTA if the statistics on 'cases of wrong deductions' were taken from registered reports of such cases, that is, commuters filing a claim for a refund.
If so, I think it is grossly inaccurate because I am sure there are many, if not more, cases that are not reported.
If, however, the 'cases of wrong deductions' cited indeed came straight from the source system, I would like to ask the LTA what it would take for it to initiate an automatic refund to the affected stored-value cards. After all, at a very impressive failure rate of 0.006 per cent, we are dealing with only 250 transactions a day.
This is the responsible thing to do, and would mean a lot to commuters in the lower-income group, where every cent counts.
Joseph Wong Yong Lye -
haha, my fare is always 45 cents, how you cheat me?
The bus driver should be fired, if even taxi drivers can give services for free at times of commuters' needs (read newspaper) and give up more than 30 cents worth, I do not see how the shitty Transport Council (which does nothing but leech $, increase prices) will lose much. -
$20 fine for those caught cheating.
they estimated the total amount to be 9 million. why dont they fine the bus company everytime they overcharged a commuter?