SBS Transit and SMRT Buses fined for lapses in service
SINGAPORE: The Public Transport Council has fined SBS Transit S$9,300 and SMRT Buses S$1,000 for lapses in service standards in the six months from December 2007 to May 2008.
this amount is not even a 1% of their daily revenue. they will not feel it.
the amount should be at least 25% of their one day's revenue.
lapses in service still can approve the fares increment
I think that fining bus companies is not only a silly thing to do, but also detrimental to commuters' interest. The bus companies will simply write the fines to costs in their ledgers. If costs are too high, they show the ledgers to the PTC and apply for fare hike, and the commuters end up paying for the fines away through higher fares.
I think that individual executives found responsible should be fined, not the company.
Ya lo the fine should not be paid by the company. The fine must be pay from the all board of director eg. salary/bonus. If the directors not happy then they should manage better eg. dismiss managers/supervisor/bus captain that not showing result.
After slapping the fines on the transport companies ($ from left pocket transfered to the right pocket), the companies affected will hike their fares to recover the losses in double quick time.
Service standards will rise and as they do, the demands on our transport companies will increase. Service standards in Singapore, in general, are still found wanting.
If the authorities are serious and want the fines to hurt it MUST be punitive and in the hundreds of thousands coupled with steps put in place to ensure that the transport companies cannot recover the fines from raising the fares to commuters. And further cut the bonuses of the CEO by S$100,000 for each lapse of service. Only then will they improve their services to the public.
Until and unless these are in place the authorities current actions are simply wayang.