When will SMRT fares n Bus fare go down?
-
Is he saying he will be providing free public transport when GST hits 8.5%?
Everybody will be looking forward to that happening.
-
LOL that sounds cool. The rich will be subsidising for the poor then.
-
When they hike..they blame oil prices...when oil prices comes down say not directly related. Really full of ^@#^@^@^
-
our public transport system use electricity
SP services price not down yet
-
SINGAPORE : It would take a further 1.5 percentage point hike in GST if bus and train rides were to be made completely free
Transport Minister Raymond Lim revealed this at a dialogue session with MacPherson residents on Sunday.
One resident at the session said: "(During) this tough and uncertain period, I hope there will be no increase in transport fares."
With leaner times ahead and recovery not yet in sight, public transport fares — always a hot issue — dominated the discussion.
And while Mr Lim is making no promises, he said he understands ground concerns and pointed out that the Public Transport Council will look carefully at economic conditions before considering any increase.
But if things became really bad, will the government consider subsidising public transport fares?
Mr Lim pointed out that even with subsidies, it will still be the public which ends up paying.
Mr Lim elaborated: "There are only two persons who pay when it comes to public transport fares. One, I use — I pay. Or two, I use — you help me subsidise my ride. What happens when you subsidise my rides? That means the taxpayers are now paying."
Going to the other end of the spectrum, if rides were to be made completely free, that would impose a heavy tax burden on the people, as it takes S$1.2 billion just to run the bus and train systems annually.
Mr Lim said: "The money still must come from somewhere, right? It is about a 1.5 percentage point increase of your GST. So, now it is 7%. You want it to be free, do you want the GST to go up to 8.5% to run a completely free bus and train system?"
But with oil prices — which operators traditionally cite as one of their high cost factors — dropping significantly in recent months, why have bus fares not come down in tandem?
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."
Moving to a cheaper form of transport, one resident asked: "I would like to know... whether we are having, in the near future, a pro—bicycle government policy, where it can provide shady bicycle tracks all over the island."
For now, Mr Lim said using two—wheelers as a form of transport is good for just intra—town travel. And it cannot be applied uniformly across the island but has to be adapted for different communities.
Apart from Tampines, authorities are also looking at Yishun and Sembawang for pilot cycling projects.
MacPherson is a constituency which has a high number of compact high—rise HDB flats, and a population that has a higher proportion of the elderly above the age of 50 who are more likely to be from the lower household income group.
It is not surprising then that not just public transport fares but also other cost of living issues that dominated the dialogue session. These included questions on whether costs of goods and services are expected to come down during this recession.
Another topic touched on was that of foreigners working in Singapore. One issue raised was whether the policy of letting foreign workers go first should also apply at the management level.
Mr Lim pointed out that this differs from company to company, and depends on how badly the particular company needed the special skill sets of those management staff. — CNA/ms
-
woohoo free bus service when gst is 8.5%!
-
Originally posted by mlmersrlosers:
SINGAPORE : It would take a further 1.5 percentage point hike in GST if bus and train rides were to be made completely free
Transport Minister Raymond Lim revealed this at a dialogue session with MacPherson residents on Sunday.
One resident at the session said: "(During) this tough and uncertain period, I hope there will be no increase in transport fares."
With leaner times ahead and recovery not yet in sight, public transport fares — always a hot issue — dominated the discussion.
And while Mr Lim is making no promises, he said he understands ground concerns and pointed out that the Public Transport Council will look carefully at economic conditions before considering any increase.
But if things became really bad, will the government consider subsidising public transport fares?
Mr Lim pointed out that even with subsidies, it will still be the public which ends up paying.
Mr Lim elaborated: "There are only two persons who pay when it comes to public transport fares. One, I use — I pay. Or two, I use — you help me subsidise my ride. What happens when you subsidise my rides? That means the taxpayers are now paying."
Going to the other end of the spectrum, if rides were to be made completely free, that would impose a heavy tax burden on the people, as it takes S$1.2 billion just to run the bus and train systems annually.
Mr Lim said: "The money still must come from somewhere, right? It is about a 1.5 percentage point increase of your GST. So, now it is 7%. You want it to be free, do you want the GST to go up to 8.5% to run a completely free bus and train system?"
But with oil prices — which operators traditionally cite as one of their high cost factors — dropping significantly in recent months, why have bus fares not come down in tandem?
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."
Moving to a cheaper form of transport, one resident asked: "I would like to know... whether we are having, in the near future, a pro—bicycle government policy, where it can provide shady bicycle tracks all over the island."
For now, Mr Lim said using two—wheelers as a form of transport is good for just intra—town travel. And it cannot be applied uniformly across the island but has to be adapted for different communities.
Apart from Tampines, authorities are also looking at Yishun and Sembawang for pilot cycling projects.
MacPherson is a constituency which has a high number of compact high—rise HDB flats, and a population that has a higher proportion of the elderly above the age of 50 who are more likely to be from the lower household income group.
It is not surprising then that not just public transport fares but also other cost of living issues that dominated the dialogue session. These included questions on whether costs of goods and services are expected to come down during this recession.
Another topic touched on was that of foreigners working in Singapore. One issue raised was whether the policy of letting foreign workers go first should also apply at the management level.
Mr Lim pointed out that this differs from company to company, and depends on how badly the particular company needed the special skill sets of those management staff. — CNA/ms
what nonsense is he sprouting? who is asking for free transport? we are asking them not to hike the fares!
-
Originally posted by Dave2000:
The oil prices has been plunging down sharply,but our MRT n Bus fares always UP,UP,UP,never goes down,what happens?My EZ link card top up $30 and within 1 week or so,it will nearly dries up.Does our PAP government need to suck our money so badly?
I thought they are rich,why they are still so desperate for money?Although Chinese dialect group "Khek" are famous for thrifty,but many ppl say what the Lee family do are being stingy,mean n craving for money,not being generous.They are shaming the Khek dialect group.
Don't need to go down it will be foc. Didn't the transport minister say that when they hike the GST by another 1.5 percentage point we would have completely free bus and train rides? -
actually think about it...
when we had 3% GST, no incentive.
5% GST, no incentive..
7% GST, no incentive..
now he says 8.5% GST & we all get FREE public transport! -
Somebody should write to the ST and confirm if what he said is true about free public transport when GST hits 8.5%.
He will be the most popular minister when that happens.
-
keep dreaming...
not in this lifetime, the next and the one after...
-
Tomorrow's Big Headline "Free public transport for everybody when GST hits 8.5%"
-
Yes, he will become everyone hero!
-
Originally posted by pearlie27:
Yes, he will become everyone hero!
PM will summon him to his office and ask wth just happened.
-
actually he ask us: "u want to have 8.5% GST in order to have free bus service meh??"
Sure I wont mind the 1.5% increase if there's foc bus service.
The 1.5% is negligible compare to the current public transport charges.
-
Originally posted by charlize:
Is he saying he will be providing free public transport when GST hits 8.5%?
Everybody will be looking forward to that happening.
Increase GST is to help poor mah...
So free public transport is sure help poor.
Good raymond lim, u the best.... go ahead... increase to 8.5% so we free public transport, support you.
dare to say it, must do it, you are minister, not kopitiam uncle. -
Will never come down. The entire ST article is a fucking waste of time. Nothing concrete, beyond saying "won't go down" et infinitum.
-
Originally posted by sinicker:
actually think about it...
when we had 3% GST, no incentive.
5% GST, no incentive..
7% GST, no incentive..
now he says 8.5% GST & we all get FREE public transport!Statement twisted.
Get FREE public transport and GST must increase to 8.5%.
do not mean 8.5% and you will get FREE public transport.
GST can be 8.5% or more and still no FREE public transport.
-
Don't be crazy. they will never go down.
-
Originally posted by mancha:
Statement twisted.
Get FREE public transport and GST must increase to 8.5%.
do not mean 8.5% and you will get FREE public transport.
GST can be 8.5% or more and still no FREE public transport.
He is just quoting an example saying that only by increasing GST to 8.5% would be enough to cover for the charges of running public transport systems per year -
please no more of these increase price increase service level crap
-
Originally posted by mlmersrlosers:
He is just quoting an example saying that only by increasing GST to 8.5% would be enough to cover for the charges of running public transport systems per year
how come he says oil price no direct impact on hike... then public transport council says.... etc...etc.. due to rising oil price? -
I think it is very expensive to hire China Talented Captains to command our buses.
Thats why we must pay a premium for their services...
Remove chairs also quite costly.They really cover their backside well... when increasing the fares, gives all sort of reasons...
- cost overheads
- manpower
-maintenance
- energy costs
I can say, their reasons given the last time is pao ka liao... so no chance to argue with them....
But I dunno lah.... One thing that is ultimately important is the bottom line la....
And SBS made 50mil last year....
nuff said. -
Originally posted by ditzy:
Don't be crazy. they will never go down.
No, they will go down, only when you gone crazy, crazy people travel free by IMH vans -
Originally posted by whiskers:
I think it is very expensive to hire China Talented Captains to command our buses.
Thats why we must pay a premium for their services...
Remove chairs also quite costly.They really cover their backside well... when increasing the fares, gives all sort of reasons...
- cost overheads
- manpower
-maintenance
- energy costs
I can say, their reasons given the last time is pao ka liao... so no chance to argue with them....
But I dunno lah.... One thing that is ultimately important is the bottom line la....
And SBS made 50mil last year....
nuff said.govt do sure earn business we common folks do business got many risks