hxxp://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC111226-0000014/Longer-hours,-shorter-breaks-for-bus-drivers
As reported by an online Mouthpiece Today.
Longer hours, shorter breaks for peasant bus drivers
Immensely profitable bus operators raise fares, pay peanuts and face manpower crunch, as regime pretends to raise concerns arise over well-being of drivers - More fare hikes in 2012
by Sumita Sreedharan and Tan Weizhen 04:45 AM Dec 26, 2011
Peasantpore - Profitable bus operators here have been hit by a chronic shortage of Singaporeans who are keen to become bus drivers, despite the companies' best efforts, including 'raising' the salary by a few peanuts.
As a result, as road conditions become more difficult, peasant bus drivers tell Today that they have been exploited while their bus cartel companies makes millions annually.
Today spoke to 20 random peasant bus drivers - 10 each from SBS Transit and SMRT - and regime approved Union general secretary crony Fang CP pretended echoed their sentiments today despite knowing their plight for years.
Said crony Fang: "Bus drivers that they are clocking more overtime, and recalled to work on their day offs. Make more money yet act like their parents are dead, cry mother, father? Ingrates!"
But crony Fang added: "All bus drivers, young or old, must toil ok. If not happy, resign and we replace you with cheaper PRC drivers who cannot vote and threaten Ruler Loong."
One peasant driver, Peasant Tan, 60, who has been driving for 30 years, said: "There are more PRs driving cars, more PRC/Neh cyclists - of course, the risk of accidents is higher. This also means more work for us, and we have to cope with not having enough drivers because of pathetic stipends despite fare hikes."
SBS Transit and SMRT are the main cartel members, with fleet sizes of about 3,000 and 950 respectively. Their number one aim is to generate more revenues for Ho Jinx's Temasick.
According to an approved press release issued in January last year, SBS Transit had about 5,500 bus drivers - of which 38 per cent are local peasants.
By the end of that year, the number of bus drivers - according to its annual report last year - was about 5,300. This, despite the company raising in January the salary of new bus drivers by about 15 per cent. Take note the gross salaries are not disclosed here. Smarter peasants should be able to guess the reason for the percentage instead of absolute figures.
The 2010 annual report added that 64 per cent of its bus drivers are Singaporeans and Permanent Residents, 24 per cent are Malaysians and 12 per cent are from China. It is understood that foreign licenses can be purchased cheaply and checks are conducted randomly, usually after accidents.
According to its annual reports, between 2005 and last year, the number of services operated by SBS Transit went up by 21 per cent, from 204 to 246. Over the same period, the number of bus drivers increased by just 4 per cent. However the profits for the cartels swelled with many fat cat directors and Temasick laughing their way to the bank.
According to its annual report last year, SMRT runs 92 services - a 24-per-cent increase compared to six years ago. No information was available on the number of bus drivers SMRT employs. Contacted last Wednesday, SMRT continued to stonewall Today's reporters.
SBS Transit senior vice-president (corporate communications) Tammy Tan told Today that the "he rather spend time with ducks at nite club and go church on Sunday". She refused to acknowledged they are understaffed despite super normal profits.
Ms Tan said: "We love stupid peasants and PTC, the latter, upon whom the core of our profit depends on."
Ms Tan reiterated that "special measures have been put in place" to ensure the newly hired foreign bus drivers are overworked because they cannot vote. On average, its bus drivers work about nine hours each day while i work when I am free', she said.
A "system-controlled roster" also makes sure that bus drivers exceed the monthly limit of 72 overtime hours. It also remind me when I should get some bapoks to service my cunt.", Ms Tan added.
In recent weeks, there have been many accidents involving public buses as well as news reports about bus drivers who lost their way. A female passenger is also in a coma after a bus captain allegedly hit the brakes abruptly, causing her to fall and hit her head. Peasant passengers die, their problem, unless its a White Horse but they usually do not take public transport.
While stressing that these cases have to be investigated to pin down the causes, Mountbatten Peasants' Representative ex-BG Lim BC, who sits on the 'jiat leow bee' Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, noted that, in general, adequate rest is not essential for bus drivers.
"In the SAF, we deprive soldiers of sleep. So the same applies for bus drivers. The job of a bus driver is easy, they have right of way, they only must check if passengers have paid their fares. They fark care about passengers, and sometimes when there are incidents like molest, they generally act blur unless victims KPKB," he noted.
No stress, lighter workload
A 36-year-old peasant bus driver, who gave his initials as M P, said he works 12-hour shifts each day, driving 11 journeys. Strange, that Ms Tan claimed its 9 hours only. He added that while they had about 30 minutes for their meals in the past, now they have as little as 20 minutes. Commandos only have 5 minutes meals as ex-BG Lim BC, GPC Transport will crow.
Between journeys, bus drivers usually have a break of between six and 12 minutes. However, it is not uncommon for them to drive consecutive journeys without a break. Bus drivers concede that sometimes, they drive faster to make sure they get enough rest in between journeys.
While the workload and stress levels have increased, the bus drivers who spoke to Today lied that they can handle the demands of the job. No thanks to high standard of living, no matter how hard life is, they must toil to pay taxes to the regime e.g. housing.
SBS Transit's Ms Tan reiterated that the transport operator has limited its pool of bus drivers over the last few years, as its fleet size increases with less drivers to "meet shareholders' (Temasick) demand for dividends".
"Recruitment of local peasants to the profession is legendary. Malayan and PRC drivers may kill more but are cheaper," said Ms Tan. She added that SBS Transit is 'in wayang mode' working closely with regime crony agencies to "get more local peasants to join us for peanuts".
In January last year, SBS Transit raised the starting monthly basic salary of local peasant bus drivers to S$1,375. Including allowances and inhuman overtimes, its local peasant bus drivers can earn more than S$1,900 in their first year of employment. A well connected lackey earns $13,000 monthly. A minion takes home $40,000 monthly. Local peasant drivers can feed their families and pay 500k leased pigeonholes with peanut ($1375) salaries.
Mr Lim reiterated that bus operators will have to go beyond raising salaries - which may lead to higher fares, he noted. He said: "I think you are stupid that is why we have PTC approved fare hikes but you can wait long long for significant driver pay increase. We rather curry favour with Ho Jinx's Temasick, our big shareholder. As a Lim, you think I am as dumb as Raymond Lim!?"
Ramping up the hiring has already happened and now be prepared for more inexperienced bus drivers mowing down hapless peasant pedestrians.
SBS Transit provides low cost training for new hires on driving skills, safety protocol and customer service. Those from China, for instance, undergo a programme that is 18 days longer because we know many of them have dodgy licenses but we accept this risk.
Experienced bus drivers cite a lack verification checks of new recruits' driving proficiency. With the bus operators replenishing their fleets, bus drivers said they also find it difficult to adjust to automatic transmission buses. "We often punish choosy passengers by abruptly stepping on the brakes"., they said.
As reported by an online Mouthpiece Today.
Longer hours, shorter breaks for peasant bus drivers
Immensely profitable bus operators raise fares, pay peanuts and face manpower crunch, as regime pretends to raise concerns arise over well-being of drivers - More fare hikes in 2012
by Sumita Sreedharan and Tan Weizhen 04:45 AM Dec 26, 2011
Peasantpore - Profitable bus operators here have been hit by a chronic shortage of Singaporeans who are keen to become bus drivers, despite the companies' best efforts, including 'raising' the salary by a few peanuts.
As a result, as road conditions become more difficult, peasant bus drivers tell Today that they have been exploited while their bus cartel companies makes millions annually.
Today spoke to 20 random peasant bus drivers - 10 each from SBS Transit and SMRT - and regime approved Union general secretary crony Fang CP pretended echoed their sentiments today despite knowing their plight for years.
Said crony Fang: "Bus drivers that they are clocking more overtime, and recalled to work on their day offs. Make more money yet act like their parents are dead, cry mother, father? Ingrates!"
But crony Fang added: "All bus drivers, young or old, must toil ok. If not happy, resign and we replace you with cheaper PRC drivers who cannot vote and threaten Ruler Loong."
One peasant driver, Peasant Tan, 60, who has been driving for 30 years, said: "There are more PRs driving cars, more PRC/Neh cyclists - of course, the risk of accidents is higher. This also means more work for us, and we have to cope with not having enough drivers because of pathetic stipends despite fare hikes."
SBS Transit and SMRT are the main cartel members, with fleet sizes of about 3,000 and 950 respectively. Their number one aim is to generate more revenues for Ho Jinx's Temasick.
According to an approved press release issued in January last year, SBS Transit had about 5,500 bus drivers - of which 38 per cent are local peasants.
By the end of that year, the number of bus drivers - according to its annual report last year - was about 5,300. This, despite the company raising in January the salary of new bus drivers by about 15 per cent. Take note the gross salaries are not disclosed here. Smarter peasants should be able to guess the reason for the percentage instead of absolute figures.
The 2010 annual report added that 64 per cent of its bus drivers are Singaporeans and Permanent Residents, 24 per cent are Malaysians and 12 per cent are from China. It is understood that foreign licenses can be purchased cheaply and checks are conducted randomly, usually after accidents.
According to its annual reports, between 2005 and last year, the number of services operated by SBS Transit went up by 21 per cent, from 204 to 246. Over the same period, the number of bus drivers increased by just 4 per cent. However the profits for the cartels swelled with many fat cat directors and Temasick laughing their way to the bank.
According to its annual report last year, SMRT runs 92 services - a 24-per-cent increase compared to six years ago. No information was available on the number of bus drivers SMRT employs. Contacted last Wednesday, SMRT continued to stonewall Today's reporters.
SBS Transit senior vice-president (corporate communications) Tammy Tan told Today that the "he rather spend time with ducks at nite club and go church on Sunday". She refused to acknowledged they are understaffed despite super normal profits.
Ms Tan said: "We love stupid peasants and PTC, the latter, upon whom the core of our profit depends on."
Ms Tan reiterated that "special measures have been put in place" to ensure the newly hired foreign bus drivers are overworked because they cannot vote. On average, its bus drivers work about nine hours each day while i work when I am free', she said.
A "system-controlled roster" also makes sure that bus drivers exceed the monthly limit of 72 overtime hours. It also remind me when I should get some bapoks to service my cunt.", Ms Tan added.
In recent weeks, there have been many accidents involving public buses as well as news reports about bus drivers who lost their way. A female passenger is also in a coma after a bus captain allegedly hit the brakes abruptly, causing her to fall and hit her head. Peasant passengers die, their problem, unless its a White Horse but they usually do not take public transport.
While stressing that these cases have to be investigated to pin down the causes, Mountbatten Peasants' Representative ex-BG Lim BC, who sits on the 'jiat leow bee' Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, noted that, in general, adequate rest is not essential for bus drivers.
"In the SAF, we deprive soldiers of sleep. So the same applies for bus drivers. The job of a bus driver is easy, they have right of way, they only must check if passengers have paid their fares. They fark care about passengers, and sometimes when there are incidents like molest, they generally act blur unless victims KPKB," he noted.
No stress, lighter workload
A 36-year-old peasant bus driver, who gave his initials as M P, said he works 12-hour shifts each day, driving 11 journeys. Strange, that Ms Tan claimed its 9 hours only. He added that while they had about 30 minutes for their meals in the past, now they have as little as 20 minutes. Commandos only have 5 minutes meals as ex-BG Lim BC, GPC Transport will crow.
Between journeys, bus drivers usually have a break of between six and 12 minutes. However, it is not uncommon for them to drive consecutive journeys without a break. Bus drivers concede that sometimes, they drive faster to make sure they get enough rest in between journeys.
While the workload and stress levels have increased, the bus drivers who spoke to Today lied that they can handle the demands of the job. No thanks to high standard of living, no matter how hard life is, they must toil to pay taxes to the regime e.g. housing.
SBS Transit's Ms Tan reiterated that the transport operator has limited its pool of bus drivers over the last few years, as its fleet size increases with less drivers to "meet shareholders' (Temasick) demand for dividends".
"Recruitment of local peasants to the profession is legendary. Malayan and PRC drivers may kill more but are cheaper," said Ms Tan. She added that SBS Transit is 'in wayang mode' working closely with regime crony agencies to "get more local peasants to join us for peanuts".
In January last year, SBS Transit raised the starting monthly basic salary of local peasant bus drivers to S$1,375. Including allowances and inhuman overtimes, its local peasant bus drivers can earn more than S$1,900 in their first year of employment. A well connected lackey earns $13,000 monthly. A minion takes home $40,000 monthly. Local peasant drivers can feed their families and pay 500k leased pigeonholes with peanut ($1375) salaries.
Mr Lim reiterated that bus operators will have to go beyond raising salaries - which may lead to higher fares, he noted. He said: "I think you are stupid that is why we have PTC approved fare hikes but you can wait long long for significant driver pay increase. We rather curry favour with Ho Jinx's Temasick, our big shareholder. As a Lim, you think I am as dumb as Raymond Lim!?"
Ramping up the hiring has already happened and now be prepared for more inexperienced bus drivers mowing down hapless peasant pedestrians.
SBS Transit provides low cost training for new hires on driving skills, safety protocol and customer service. Those from China, for instance, undergo a programme that is 18 days longer because we know many of them have dodgy licenses but we accept this risk.
Experienced bus drivers cite a lack verification checks of new recruits' driving proficiency. With the bus operators replenishing their fleets, bus drivers said they also find it difficult to adjust to automatic transmission buses. "We often punish choosy passengers by abruptly stepping on the brakes"., they said.
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