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SINGAPORE: Transport Minister of State Josephine Teo has defended the penalty framework used to judge bus operators' service standards.
In the latest review, SBS Transit was fined S$700 while SMRT got a S$300 penalty.
Ms Teo said in Parliament on Monday that the framework is fairly stringent, having 20 requirements for quality service.
She said standards have been consistently reviewed and progressively tightened.
And incidences of poor service, on the whole, have fallen over the years since the framework was introduced in 2007.
Ms Teo said: "Even though the numbers seem to be small, by tracking those numbers, we know whether the operators have responded.
"If they don't take it seriously, it doesn't mean that we have no other avenues of making our views known to them. It doesn't mean that we have no other avenues of asking them to please improve. And so I think we have to look at the framework of penalties in context."
In the latest review, SBS Transit was fined S$700 while SMRT got a S$300 penalty.
Ms Teo said in Parliament on Monday that the framework is fairly stringent, having 20 requirements for quality service.
She said standards have been consistently reviewed and progressively tightened.
And incidences of poor service, on the whole, have fallen over the years since the framework was introduced in 2007.
Ms Teo said: "Even though the numbers seem to be small, by tracking those numbers, we know whether the operators have responded.
"If they don't take it seriously, it doesn't mean that we have no other avenues of making our views known to them. It doesn't mean that we have no other avenues of asking them to please improve. And so I think we have to look at the framework of penalties in context."