ST Forum 24 Apr 07
AS A commuter relying solely on public transport, I support the proposal put up by the chairman of ComfortDelGro with regard to the 'mega-merger' of SMRT and ComfortDelGro to create a single public-transport group. My reasons:
Singapore needs a fully and effectively integrated public-transport system for maximum efficiency and economy of scale, to benefit both the commuter and the operator.
The current operators have reached a plateau in trying to improve operational efficiency further without being able to satisfy the needs of commuters where waiting time, overcrowding, frequency of both scheduled buses and trains are concerned, as well as the need to change mode of transport more than once.
Geographically, Singapore is too small to have two companies to provide a cost-effective, well-integrated public-transport system.
There are just too many buses on the road every day due to the proliferation of services, causing traffic jams and pollution. With the revamp, this can be greatly improved with fully coordinated integration by one operator.
With full integration, many benefits will be realised, such as more cost-effective utilisation of buses/trains, higher occupancy, better 'frequency' reliability, shorter commuting time and better public safety at the MRT stations as more funds can be made available to install safety gates at the open MRT stations.
Also, with just one larger public-transport operator, a stronger spin-off capability can be developed to create an offshore corporation for global expansion, to operate similar public-transport systems as part of wealth creation to enhance the group's bottom line.
Steven Foo Say Chew
Does all of you support the merger? Will there be monolopy of transportation again?