It's not just driver salaries, but the need to improve and maintain public transport systems for the long-term that necessitates fare revisions, said Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew in a message posted to his Facebook page today.
He was writing in response to the discussion generated over his comments made on the 6th of December. Then, he had said that increased salaries for bus drivers would be taken into account in future fare revisions for buses.
However, he said his comments were made in view of a "wider perspective".
"We need to go well beyond the one-time increase earlier this year which raised salaries by up to a few hundred dollars a month," Minister Lui wrote in the Facebook post. He cited the need to attract more local drivers as a reason for sustained increases of wages for bus drivers.
"Locals currently make up slightly more than half (57 per cent) of our 7,500 bus drivers, a sharp decline from almost 80 per cent just 6 years ago. Most local drivers are already in their 50s and 60s. Clearly we should continue to welcome foreign bus drivers within limits. But we also need to attract more locals to take up bus driving if we do not want to rely overly on foreigners." he wrote.
He also stressed that fare increases were not to boost the short term profits of public transport operators. Instead, they should be used "not just to improve salaries of bus drivers but to improve service to commuters while keeping public transport operations commercially viable." This includes the upgrading and maintainance of fleets, as well staff salaries.
PROPER BALANCE NEEDED
Minister Lui acknowledged that as fares increased, the Government would have an increasing role to keep public transport affordable. Examples he cited of Govenrment help included expanding the rail network, as well as the S$1.1 billion Bus Service Enhancement Programme introduced earlier in the year.
However, he said that even with Government help, improving public transport would be a costly endeavour. He wrote: "Somebody has to pay for these costs, either commuters in fares, or taxpayers in government subsidies, or the PTOs.
"The proper balance is something we have to study very carefully. But we should not simply take the populist approach of avoiding any fare increases completely, and just push it onto the PTOs or rely on more and more government subsidies. Not only would this require additional public money, but it would give operators no incentive to be efficient, or to provide good services to commuters."
Minister Lui emphasised that the Government is "fully committed to an affordable public transport system" for vulnerable groups, and he wants PTOs to consider what more can be done for such groups as part of the next fare adjustment.
He also said that there would be a fuller debate in Parliament about fare revisions, once the fare review committee completes its work early next year.
"It is a matter of all the stakeholders - the PTOs, the Government, and yes, commuters too - coming together to ensure we enjoy a reliable, high-quality and affordable public transport system," he wrote.
SOURCE
Singaporeans have come to a stage where whatever the minister say, we will rebut, especially so in the public transport factors. And who can blame them? Fare increment has become almost a yearly affair for the past decade and while the PTOs continue to make handsome profits, they continue to cry for help when it comes to providing better services and salaries.
However, there isn't much we can do once they have decided to raise fares. We can make all the noises we want but we still have to use the public transport and continue paying.
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