It is not actually original and there is no need to be. The system our public bus system is shifting to is based on the ones used in London and Perth. The commuting by bus experience should improve but the financial side of things would be ugly. If a tight fisted approach to running public buses here could not be profitable, this new system cannot survive without massive subsidies. Looks like the PAP just changed religion. Subsidies was completely haram and painfully tolerated.
People switch religion if it dawn on them that they are not going to heaven with what they currently believe. The PAP will lose big if they don't fix this. Winning elections is sacrosanct, forget about core values if you are not around to put them to use.
For a while I have been lamenting that we are gradually becoming like elsewhere and public transport is a good example.
But do we have a choice? No, but I am glad to see many people asking how we are going to pay for all these.
Public transport is just unaffordable and why do we travel anyway if not to get to and from work and school. If business would not pay workers more so they don't grumble about rising cost of public transport, government must find other ways to extract this indirect subsidy commuters are giving to business. The favorite is tax but in these days we can be more creative.
OK, we have to subsidize public transport but make sure overall it is affordable. Also how do we continue to keep the whole system honest? If we fail, we will start going down the slippery path of ruin.
So we get more transparency?? I would rather ask for Accountability and Responsbility. These are to be delivered from the heart while transparency can be delivered from the mind. Which makes more sense??
ReplyDelete"Revenues from fares will go to the Government, while operators will pocket the non-fare revenues from advertising on buses or commercial rentals at interchanges, for example, on top of the amount it is paid by the Government to run the services"
ReplyDeletesince the gov own, maintain the bus and facility, why let the operator pocket the non fare revenue?
doesnt make sense at all
If the government is going to pay for the buses and the infrastructure, why not just nationalize the whole damned bus services, instead of tiptoeing around the fringes?
ReplyDelete