SBS & SMRT Requested for 4.4% Fare Increase But PTC Rejected The Requests

Unless you’re a 5-year-old who doesn’t need to worry about your living expenses, you’d know that the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just kill people and jobs: it also shows us what “every man for himself” really means.

Talks about #SGUNited are just talks by people who work in places like Sheng Siong, and the help you see online are by people who have got nothing to lose.

Reader Bao: Reading Goody Feed is depressing. Got proof to show this or not?

Yes. The story of public transport operators and the Public Transport Council.

SBS & SMRT Requested for Up to 4.4% Fare Increase But PTC Rejected The Requests

Every year, the transport operators can request for a fare adjustment from the Public Transport Council because they cannot anyhowly adjust their rates, if not one bus ride would’ve cost $10 now.

For example, last year, it was announced that there’d be an increase of an average of about 7% for the fares in 2020, and the key reason was due to an increase in energy prices.

You can bet that people weren’t happy, but lives go on.

And this year, with COVID-19, there’s no doubt that they’d want to increase the fares since fewer people are taking public transport.

Based on some formula that only scholars would understand, the maximum amount that can increase is 4.4% for the year of 2021 (which is usually announced around this period to prepare commuters for the changes ahead).

And so it’s no surprise that both SBS Transit and SMRT applied for the maximum increase even when COVID-19 has made us count every cent, because remember: it’s every man for himself.

But Ah Gong has just rejected the increase.

In a media release by Public Transport Council, an independent regulatory statutory board under the Ministry of Transport, they said that in order to help “public transport commuters mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and the economic downturn, the Public Transport Council (PTC) has decided not to grant any fare adjustments in this year’s Fare Review Exercise (FRE). Commuters will hence see no change to their bus and train fares from end 2020 until the next FRE.”

They then provided the reasons but hey: unless you’re really a 5-year-old who reads Goody Feed, you’d know the reasons lah.

The Chairman of the Public Transport Council said, “The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis. We recognise the exceptional economic circumstances faced by Singaporeans and have decided to keep bus and train fares unchanged to help ease the financial burden on commuters during this challenging period. Beyond the immediate fare freeze for this year, we will also closely monitor how the COVID-19 crisis develops and its impact on Singaporeans. Our priority will be to safeguard commuters’ interests, while ensuring a financially sustainable public transport system that continues to meet the needs of Singaporeans in the years to come.”

But…

How About Public Transport Operators?

While we cheer, public transport operators must be crying in the corner.

According to a virtual press conference by the PTC, it was mentioned that SBS Transit’s train segment has reported “tens of millions” of loss in its lasts financial year, while SMRT recorded a net loss of around $20 million.

Needless to say, it could’ve been more as the Circuit Breaker only started in April this year.

This means it’s trouble for public transport operators…though there might be light at the end of the tunnel.

You see, unlike airlines that can just cancel all their trips and ground their planes since there were fewer (or almost no) passengers, buses and trains couldn’t just do that, if not Ah Hock and Ah Lian will complain.

Which is why they’re going to do a mid-term review of the Network Capacity Factor (NCF) to see if it should be applied or even exclude it completely.

I see you scratching your head so allow me to explain.

The NCF is to compare ridership against the network capacity.

This is why you’d never seldom see a train that’s so full that people have to hang themselves outside the train to get to their destination.

So, what could this mean?

PTC Chief Executive said, “There is an opportunity where the supply can adjust much better to the demand such that they run at lower frequencies (compared to) the peak…Overall, the NCF, in terms of cost efficiency, will be much better.”

Still too chim? Basically they can kind of do what airlines are doing lah.

But because airlines won’t need a review since the number of passengers dropped from millions to zero, it can be done fastly.

Public transport is a tad more fluid since tomorrow, we could go back to Circuit Breaker and buses would be empty again.

Though I think you don’t really care about the fate of public transport operators because remember: it’s every man for himself.