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[h=2]Profit Before Service[/h]
May 23rd, 2014 |
Author: Contributions
It's how money should grow
That whiff in the air, not alcohol, not riot inducing. Smells like…. like
another excuse to raise the bus fares.
You get the drift when they pointedly mentioned that in the London system,
which is one of two contracting models quoted, fares have gone up by 59% since
2005. In Perth, the Premier of Western Australia is cited as saying commuters
may soon have to pay half the costs of running the bus and rail system, instead
of the present one third. No data was provided for Japan, Korea or any other
country.
According to the Land Transport Authority, operators under current privatised
model, may not run services if they are deemed to be unprofitable, hence the
occasional shortages and tenuous waiting times. Profit before service seems to
be the mantra. It’s cold comfort that these operators, namely SMRT and SBS
Transit, need not bid for 80% or 9 packages of existing and new routes. They
need not compete with the new entrants, which will be fighting for the 20% or 3
packages. Their negotiated contracts will ensure that the new system restructure
will have little or no impact on SMRT and SBS Transit balance sheets. SMRT share
price actually hit an 11-month high of $1.475 on Tuesday, affirmation that
someone upstairs is still taking good care of them. Never mind that if they had
done a better job, this whole exercise would not have been necessary.
Meanwhile the talking heads are having a field day debating whether the whole
revamp – Government owing all bus operating assets, infrastructure, monitoring
and operating systems, fare collection – is tantamount to nationalisation or
semi-nationalisation. Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew says that nationalising
public transport will lead to higher fares and a heftier burden on taxpayers. In
the absence of any stated objectives to cut costs and reduce overheads, the
inevitable hike is a foregone conclusion. Already they are planning to repaint
all the buses, in mimic of the iconic red London bus.
Tattler
* The writer blogs at [url]http://singaporedesk.blogspot.com[/URL]
It's how money should grow
That whiff in the air, not alcohol, not riot inducing. Smells like…. like
another excuse to raise the bus fares.
You get the drift when they pointedly mentioned that in the London system,
which is one of two contracting models quoted, fares have gone up by 59% since
2005. In Perth, the Premier of Western Australia is cited as saying commuters
may soon have to pay half the costs of running the bus and rail system, instead
of the present one third. No data was provided for Japan, Korea or any other
country.
According to the Land Transport Authority, operators under current privatised
model, may not run services if they are deemed to be unprofitable, hence the
occasional shortages and tenuous waiting times. Profit before service seems to
be the mantra. It’s cold comfort that these operators, namely SMRT and SBS
Transit, need not bid for 80% or 9 packages of existing and new routes. They
need not compete with the new entrants, which will be fighting for the 20% or 3
packages. Their negotiated contracts will ensure that the new system restructure
will have little or no impact on SMRT and SBS Transit balance sheets. SMRT share
price actually hit an 11-month high of $1.475 on Tuesday, affirmation that
someone upstairs is still taking good care of them. Never mind that if they had
done a better job, this whole exercise would not have been necessary.
Meanwhile the talking heads are having a field day debating whether the whole
revamp – Government owing all bus operating assets, infrastructure, monitoring
and operating systems, fare collection – is tantamount to nationalisation or
semi-nationalisation. Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew says that nationalising
public transport will lead to higher fares and a heftier burden on taxpayers. In
the absence of any stated objectives to cut costs and reduce overheads, the
inevitable hike is a foregone conclusion. Already they are planning to repaint
all the buses, in mimic of the iconic red London bus.
Tattler
* The writer blogs at [url]http://singaporedesk.blogspot.com[/URL]
