Gimme The Old Model Anytime

The most popular minister in the cabinet just said that fare hikes are needed to keep bus contracting model sustainable. Makes you wonder if he ever asked himself whether the people needed a more expensive bus contracting model in the first place.

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew also said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is working on a framework to assess the passenger threshold a new route ought to meet before it can be operated. What he should work on is the threshold of pain the average passenger will tolerate before this peaceful island will really turn red with seething anger.

Then follows the standard con job with the subsidy spiel: “The eventual amount of subsidy will crucially depend on whether fares and bus service standards are set realistically." We know by now the cost of the new bus system will be paid for either directly by commuters in the form of fare hikes or indirectly by taxpayers (in the form of Government "subsidies"). Notice the huge budget surplus this year is not factored into the equation.

Instead of stressing that new routes and higher service standards have to be “assessed judiciously”, what should be assessed is the performance of the ministers in respect of taking the commuters to the cleaners year after year. A new route could be tested for a few months and, if it does not cross the passenger threshold, the authorities may have to “sometimes make the painful decision to cut that route and eliminate it”. If pain alleviation is the objective, it would a more painless decision to cut some ministerial jobs.

Lui declined to reveal the Government’s budget to operate the system and how much it was prepared to subsidise the routes at this juncture. That's how paper generals and rear admirals work, spend the money first, let others worry about the cost. We only know one thing for sure: getting to work is going to me more expensive.

Hot Money

Indonesia's Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) Deputy Chairman Agus Santoso told Jakarta Post that while the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) move to stop issuing the S$10,000 note from October 1 onwards would "meaningfully" help Indonesia curb rampant corruption and money-laundering, withdrawing or imposing a new expiration date on the notes would be more effective.

"If the bill remained on the market, let's say until five to 10 years after its production stops, Indonesia would still be vulnerable to money-laundering and graft," Mr Agus said in the report.

It was bad enough when people like Samad (not his real name) used to hand carry sports bags chockful of US dollars across via the Batam-Singapore ferries. Remember what Lee Kuan Yew said about Indonesians flying in for weekend shopping and be back to Jakarta by Monday morning? Well, Samad's task was to meet some of these visitors at selected hotels to pass over the hot money, either as gratitude for favours extended by the politically connected or plain old palm greasing. Your boss trust you with all that cash, ever feel tempted to pocket few hundred dollar bills for yourself? Samad said even if he did, no one will notice, the system frowns on receipts which tend to leave a paper trail.

The $10,000 notes would have made his "day job" a lot lighter. Heck, he can probably dispense with the attention getting sports bag. Samad dresses casually, you'll never suspect he was loaded to the gills with cash. And if the immigration officers ever notice his frequent passport stamps, they never seem to want to know why. It's not known as Sin City for nothing.

Scene from "The Counterfeiters", movie about Nazis
printing money in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

EZ Cash

Why do EZ-Link cardholders have to pay 20 cents every time they top up their card at all DBS, OCBC ATMs and AXS stations? The easy answer is "... if we can collect more money, why not..."

This new gotcha came into effect at the start of July. Top up is still free if effected at places like Transit Link sales offices, Add Value Machines and General Ticketing Machines (GTM) located at MRT stations and selected bus interchanges - they are not telling us where - as well as EZ-Link Top-up Machines at People's Association (PA) Community Centres.

An EZ-Link card user said: "I didn't even know that this new surcharge update was there. So I think it would have been much better if they put up some kind of notice to inform the general public."

In response, EZ-Link said the top up fee of 20 cents had already been waived for 5 years to allow sufficient time for consumers to try out the service. Apparently now is the time to collect. EZ-Link claims they have been bearing the cost, without explaining how and where the cost is incurred since DBS, OCBC ATMs and AXS stations are the interfaces affected. Maybe some $2 company is acting as middle men between these unmanned terminals and the faceless EZ-Link.

The Consumer Association of Singapore, not exactly one famed for championing the cause of consumers in Singapore - you actually have to pay them a fee to look into a complaint - said EZ-Link should "enhance transparency by communicating better to consumers by putting posters at permanent locations such as at the walls near ATMs." What, and ruin the golden opportunity to rip off customers who don't read the fine print? Posters are fine to boost poor attendance at PA hosted events like live broadcast of football matches, but broadcasting avenues for cutting costs and saving precious money is never top priority.

Great money saving housing alternative not available

Electrifying Alternatives

Whenever you are out of town, never, never ask about local prices of cars. That's one sure way to shoot up your blood pressure. And you don't want to end up in a hospital, not with the rigged Medishield Life premiums awaiting.

Far from being amongst the lowest tax paying countries, we are ripped off in many ways, key of which is the cost of private vehicle ownership. You don't need a fancy sports job like Anton Casey's to get away from the olfactory infestation of public transport, just any mobile private space should suffice. Unfortunately, even if and when the compact electric cars are available, the taxes will make sure only the elites can afford the latest toy.

Definitely Out Of Country

You know you are not in Singapore when the population is 99 percent local born and bred. Even the sweeper at the train station platform is local, so are the workers emptying the trash bins.

The station master must have wished he had stayed in bed instead of having to deal with two alien cultures in one morning. A very dark African in a business suit was obviously having problems communicating with the paleface ang moh. Seeing the chicken-duck conversation was not getting any headway, we barged in with our own request for assistance. He looked at us quixotically and asked if we spoke English. Yes, we do, we announced with pride, and he proceeded to provide us with directions for the platforms. At this, the flustered African turned blacker than his natural complexion and protested, "But I am speaking English too!" The station master suddenly realised his gaffe, and turned to answer the African bro's travel questions, the fog of cultural bias having been lifted. We didn't mind, we have experienced our own headaches with the strange speech of the foreign elements in our midst at home.

The trains here are only 80 percent full at peak - that's seats occupied, nobody has to stand. The cabins have power points to charge your mobile phone during the ride, and a toilet onboard. Don't suggest these nifty features to the SMRT fellows, they'll just use them as excuses to hike the fare, again.