They Raised FARES, for this sort of Standards???
-
Is this what we have to live with as they raise public transport fares and charges???
Looks like fares have gone to heavenly heights and service standards gone to hell!
====================================================
FREAK TAXI ACCIDENT
Panicking husband says: I thought I was going to lose her
>Couple gets out after paying cabby
>But wife, 74, is slow. Cabby does not notice and drives off
>She hits road, suffers fracture, cuts and bruises
By Tan May Ping
June 02, 2006
AT this time every year, Madam Tan Gim Goh would be holed up in her kitchen making close to 400 bak chang (rice dumplings) for her eight grown-up children and their families.
Mr Ng feeding his wife, who needs help just to sit up or bathe. --Pics/CHONG JUN LIANG
But this year, she is in no shape to do anything of the sort.
Her left arm is in a sling because of a fracture and she has bruises on her body.
She is in pain and spends most of her time in bed.
She needs help just to sit up and cannot bathe or look after herself.
Madam Tan, 74, was involved in an accident while getting out of a taxi.
It happened on 20 May when she and her husband, Mr Ng Eng Thong, 82, took the taxi from their Choa Chu Kang home to HarbourFront to attend the opening ceremony of a relative's shop.
When they arrived at the HarbourFront taxi stand just after 1pm, Mr Ng, who was sitting in front, paid the fare and alighted.
His wife, who was slower in getting out, had just put her left foot on the road and was still half in the taxi when it moved off.
MOVED OFF FAST
Madam Tan being helped into bed by her husband and one of her daughters, Madam Ng Lian Geok.
Mr Ng recounted in Hokkien: 'I had just taken one step away from the taxi when he started to move off very fast. He didn't look back to see if my wife had alighted.'
Madam Tan was knocked off her feet, fractured her left shoulder and bruised her left hand badly. She had cuts on her right knee and upper lip.
She was quiet and in a state of shock after she fell, said Mr Ng. And when he saw his wife like that, he panicked and started shivering.
'At that point, I thought I was going to lose her,' recalled Mr Ng, who has been married for 55 years.
The cabby didn't notice that his passenger had fallen till several people at the taxi stand shouted for him to stop.
As four passers-by and Mr Ng attended to Madam Tan, he got out of his taxi and apologised.
The Comfort cabby has been given a final warning and demerit points due to the severity of the accident. (See report on facing page.)
Mr Ng then asked him to drive them to the Singapore General Hospital. During the journey, Mr Ng said he scolded the driver for being reckless.
By the time they arrived at the hospital, Madam Tan's blood pressure had shot up and she had to be admitted. She takes regular medication to control hypertension.
They made a police report at the hospital's police post on the same day. Later she had blood in her stools, and underwent gastroscopy and colonoscopy during her eight-day stay in hospital.
She was found to have gastritis, but was cleared otherwise, and discharged on Saturday. Mr Ng said the cabby visited his wife twice after the accident.
Meanwhile, Madam Tan's children are upset to see their mother so helpless. Gone are her trips to the market or mahjong games with her friends.
HOLIDAY PLANS SCUTTLED?
Her plans to visit one of her daughters in the United States this year may have to be shelved.
Her youngest child, Madam Jessie Ng, 40, said Madam Tan had been taking care of her two children until the accident.
Madam Ng, who contacted Comfort on the day of the accident, claimed: 'I expected them to do something about it, but I ended up having to call many times.
'They said that if we have any claims, we have to speak with their insurer directly.' Since the accident, Madam Tan's children have been taking turns to watch over her.
But as most of them are working and have their own families, they are concerned about her long-term medical needs.
Madam Tan lives with her husband and youngest son, who has to go to work.
She said in Hokkien: 'I'm slightly better, although it still hurts. But I feel helpless. I can't do things on my own and I'm afraid that I won't recover.
'I'm very scared to take a taxi or car, so I don't want to go out.'
Mr Ng will not be taking chances in future too.
He said: 'Next time, I'm going to tell the driver to make sure we are out of the taxi before he drives off.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Driver's first offence, but he gets stiff penalty
COMFORTDELGRO, which owns Comfort, told The New Paper that it was dismayed to learn of the incident and had immediately conducted a thorough investigation after Madam Jessie Ng made the report.
Said Ms Tammy Tan, its group corporate communications officer: 'We had advised her to liaise directly with our insurance department with regard to medical claims.
'Unfortunately, our external insurer did not return the passenger's daughter's call. We have since communicated our displeasure with the lapse in service to our external insurer.'
The driver was remorseful over what had happened, Ms Tan said.
She added: 'The driver, who was very apologetic, took the passenger to the Singapore General Hospital for a medical checkup.'
Though it was the driver's first offence, he was given a final warning and demerit points because of the seriousness of what happened. -
Used to it already lar.
-
Best not to overreact over one incident by making a mountain of a molehill.
There are also cases of good service.
Prior to TIBS being sold to SMRT, several commuters wrote in to praise the drivers of service 169 from woodlands to AMK for good service, safe driving and even helping an old lady off the bus. The drivers were also known to greet EVERY passenger who boarded with a smile. Even the passengers admitted that the driver was NOT putting on a show and was indeed sincere.
Recently, there was a few articles in ST Forum paying tribute to bus drivers of several services. -
I don't think they raise fare out of standards reasons... The petrols price per barrel are increasing every year... If you are the transport company.. what do you think you will do? Charity for the people and go eat grass? How about you ask the taxi driver what they think? They wanted the raise very much for sometime already...
-
please check how much they make every year.Originally posted by banzie:I don't think they raise fare out of standards reasons... The petrols price per barrel are increasing every year... If you are the transport company.. what do you think you will do? Charity for the people and go eat grass? How about you ask the taxi driver what they think? They wanted the raise very much for sometime already... -
Taxis are always in a rush
-
Then, how much is consider enough for its profits?Originally posted by banzie:I don't think they raise fare out of standards reasons... The petrols price per barrel are increasing every year... If you are the transport company.. what do you think you will do? Charity for the people and go eat grass? How about you ask the taxi driver what they think? They wanted the raise very much for sometime already... -
what's so da4 jing1 xiao3 guai4?
-
Bad or Good Services - is there any justification to raise FARES ?
From the Financial Highlights of the SMRT Report for the First Half of 2006 in a Year-On-Year Comparison - can there be any justification for increases in the fares of public transport in Singapore ?
PDF Page 51 of 58:
Revenue for for 1H FY2006 is estimated to be S$358Million, compared to 1H FY2005 at S$338Million; while Total Operating Costs for 1H FY2006 is estimated to be 3.1% lower at (S$301Million) compared to (S$310.7Million) for 1H FY2005.
Earnings Before Interests and Tax (EBIT) is estimated to be S$68.5Million for 1H FY2006, a hefty increase of 79.9% compared to 1H FY2005 at S$38.1Million.
PDF Page 57 of 58:
This page shows the EBIT by Business and reveals the total dependency of revenue on MRT ridership from a captive population that contributes 63.5% of its total revenue - (See also PDF Page 26 of 58 : Growth of Train Ridership) - which is achieveable by the extension of the rail network that is currently being implemented, and also with the new Downtown Extension by the Ministry of National Development.
It is also heartening that the Management of SMRT had also identified new areas of opportunities to grow their revenue by "extracting on synergies" (PDF Page 29 of 58 ), and also "Leveraging on Strengths" (PDF Page 32 of 58 ).
PDF Page 57 of 58 shows that there is potential to grow additional revenues in these areas, which presently reveal a very low contribution considering the vast assets available and owned by the SMRT that can be employed.
Revenues from these alternative or parallel sources from available assets will make any fare increases unnecessary, or less painful. -
how did an accident with an errant taxi driver get turned into railings against the public transport system ? .............
-
If Without the intervene of the government I think As much as possible is enough for its profit... at least that is the company's perspective... It's a business remember.. its not a public service... But of coz government at present limits this exploitation.Originally posted by Lowclassman:Then, how much is consider enough for its profits?
No one seems to complain if Macdonald raise it's price for cheeze burger... -
cheyz.........it's always the drivers that tio the punishment........shldn't the management be blamed as well.......anyway...to me, it's always the management's fault...if your men don't do a job well, who's fault.....always like to push blame to drivers.....haiz...
-
It's the fault of an individual driver...nothing to do with the system or the taxi company in this case. The victim should sue for negligence rather than accept compensation.
-
Originally posted by Atobe:
You've raised a decent point. There are other ways to boost revenue instead of a direct impact on prices.
Bad or Good Services - is there any justification to raise [b] FARES ?
From the Financial Highlights of the SMRT Report for the First Half of 2006 in a Year-On-Year Comparison - can there be any justification for increases in the fares of public transport in Singapore ?
PDF Page 51 of 58:
Revenue for for 1H FY2006 is estimated to be S$358Million, compared to 1H FY2005 at S$338Million; while Total Operating Costs for 1H FY2006 is estimated to be 3.1% lower at (S$301Million) compared to (S$310.7Million) for 1H FY2005.
Earnings Before Interests and Tax (EBIT) is estimated to be S$68.5Million for 1H FY2006, a hefty increase of 79.9% compared to 1H FY2005 at S$38.1Million.
PDF Page 57 of 58:
This page shows the EBIT by Business and reveals the total dependency of revenue on MRT ridership from a captive population that contributes 63.5% of its total revenue - (See also PDF Page 26 of 58 : Growth of Train Ridership) - which is achieveable by the extension of the rail network that is currently being implemented, and also with the new Downtown Extension by the Ministry of National Development.
It is also heartening that the Management of SMRT had also identified new areas of opportunities to grow their revenue by "extracting on synergies" (PDF Page 29 of 58 ), and also "Leveraging on Strengths" (PDF Page 32 of 58 ).
PDF Page 57 of 58 shows that there is potential to grow additional revenues in these areas, which presently reveal a very low contribution considering the vast assets available and owned by the SMRT that can be employed.
Revenues from these alternative or parallel sources from available assets will make any fare increases unnecessary, or less painful.
[/b]
Unfortunately, with the departure of Steve Chia from politics, we have lost someone who could at least argue in parliament on the basis of economic statistics and growth, a significant weakness among the alternatives.
I will always be bemused by the comments of a certain Wong Kan Seng when he said Steve Chia raised many questions, but none with 'significance'.
It was a surprising concession considering the Ruling Party was unable to directly rebut the claims of the national reserves which Steve Chia raised, even more surprising given the Ruiling Party's track record for rebutting incorrect statistics point for point.