8/17/2010

The virtuous deaf frogs

The fare hike was meant to benefit the commuters. But it is ok that 1 out of 4 got to pay more. Lily Neo was furious and asked, 'Is the minister aware of the frustration and anger of many...on the ground? Raymond Lim 'acknowledged that some seniors face "significant fare increases". And it was an agonising decision that the Public Transport Council had to make. Then what? Stop whining and move on? Hey, the little money that the seniors have is crucial to their daily lives. Every cent counts. It is not a matter of whether they can take bus, mrt or taxis, it can mean going with one meal less or trying to make ends meet. Many of these seniors did not earn $2m or $3m a year. The few cents may be nonsense and meaningless to people earning millions, but please don't brush it off as just too bad. Do something and not let the poor seniors being robbed of their cup of kopi O.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Come on Redbean,

Minister Raymond has alredi told singaporeans that the transport operators are losing tens of millions due tot he new fare system. Wat is the few cents you are talking about ?

Do You not hear that only 1 out of 2 paxs has to pay more. Is it not to tell you 2 out of 3 pay less now with the new fare system.

Wat about Minister Lim Hwee Hua's elaborations on the transport systems, supposedly including the operations which should include fare pricings.

You are refusing to hear the deaf frogs' croaking ? You better take their words as decree if not divine gospel.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Looks like I must agree that this is a great system.

Anonymous said...

Correction to my First Post(First Comment). 1 out of 2 should be corrected to 1 out of 3.

I apologise.

Wally Buffet said...

Why target the oldies even if one in four has to pay more?

Target the foreign trash instead. After all they are the ones who created all our transport and housing woes.

Have a different fare structure for foreign trash. Let cheap transport fares be another privilege of citizenship. If they earn our money here, make sure that some more is spent here before they repatriate it back to their home countries.

Don't screw us. Screw them instead.

Many true blue Singaporeans will appreciate such gestures of fraternity and reward it.

Anonymous said...

>>Why target the oldies even if one in four has to pay more?

It's a known fact the old man is AGAINST unncessary travel...not referrig to the jiahong trips of Prataman

Anonymous said...

Redbean and Wally my Frens;

do appreciate the wisdoms of our parliamentarians, if not for their spirits of enlightenments, at least look at the costs of their every minute serving the Country.

Me no good at calculation but at their multi million SINDollars annual incomes, every minute should be.......someone kindly help please.

And here, we are so...soul upset with a few cents over transport fares.

patriot

Anonymous said...

http://app.mfa.gov.sg/pr/read_content.asp?View,9332,

he is not in favour of subsidising transport 'because then you will have unnecessary travel'.

Anonymous said...

>>And here, we are so...soul upset with a few cents over transport fares.

Following Hairdo Lim .perhaps we should save on hairdo to "subside" our own transport cost

Anonymous said...

Why target oldies?

My take on this, if I am not mistaken, is that oldies, enjoying subsidies of lower fares, should not be clogging up the MRT trains even during off-peak hours, which is bearing the brunt of the brickbats from commuters for the overcrowding. The space must be freed up for another 100,000 foreigners.

So the substantial increase in fares for senior citizens over longer distance will force them to take buses and engage in transferring from one bus to another.

In their million dollar twisted minds, the fare increase will deter oldies from taking the MRT.

The same formula always works in other areas, so must be adopted as the magical formula for all ills in red dot.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

It is so convenient to say that 3 in 4 benefitted, so the 1 in 4 can pay more.

What obnoxious nincompoohs!

Anonymous said...

I am not into economics nor have any knowledge about the MRT System. I always assume that the land being utilised belongs to us Singaporeans, and the initial cost of building the entire MRT lines were paid using public funds being held by the Government. Likewise all roads, airports, land reclamation and the whole gig.

Using public funds to screw the citizens for profits is immoral as these are necessary for the nation. Similarly, using public funds to pay FTs to hang flags and other useless endeavours observed by Singaporeans, instead of making the lives of ordinary folks better seems to go against good governance.

The audacity of elected officials in making public statements that defy logic and borders on stupidity seems to be the norm today. Singaporeans are suffering because they are being treated as digits and less than intelligent humans. I think many are disillusioned and take whatever is being dished out with a shrug because it is useless to talk to deaf frogs. Change is coming and time will tell.

Anonymous said...

The rulers have lost their conscience to the dogs. Taking care of Citizens matters little to them.

Talking about public funds, I think the rulers now thinks that money in GIC, Temasek, all the national reserves, all town council reserves and CPF belongs to the PAP and they are at liberty to make use of the money to benefit whoever they like. Such is their arrogance, which is the result of Singaporeans voting for them election after election.

But do not count on Singaporeans to remain ignorant, sheepish and naive forever. Another few constituencies falling to the opposition will wake them up to face reality.

It is up to Singaporeans to make the change fast, or they will never get another chance, because tightening of the election rules is a possibility, as they are beginning to realise that the sentiments on the ground have slowly been swayed by the constant criticisms and hammerings, of policy failures, by bloggers in cyberspace.

They may pretend to be deaf, but they are obviously aware of what is happening in cyberspace. For example, how could they know about the hugh outcry about the 'dog food' given to Singaporean kids volunteering at the YOG? That piece of 'slap in their face' news prompts them to take immediate action to provide a better fare.

Anonymous said...

Yes! Fellow Singaporeans;

please bring other fellow countrymen here to relate to each others and together let us be united.

patriot

Anonymous said...

Whats the use of all this talk when we all know the self-admitted 'deaf frogs' don't listen?

I am glad PAP is doing all these to make life more miserable for Sinkies. In fact I think PAP is NOT DOING ENOUGH!

They should raise govt and statboard fees by 200% across the board, and raise MANDATORY CPF contributions by another 20%, while Mah Bodoh should cause property prices to escalate through the universe...stop building flats, even demolish a few older ones while PAP aggressively import even more foreign talents.

So far all these kuching kurap price increases and ultra liberal ft policy simply DON'T MAKE A DING to Singaporeans' beauty sleep. PAP ought to work harder to wake up Sillyporeans from their coma slumber.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

And they are telling Singaporeans to shut up and stop whining.

Anonymous said...

Our Leaders are giving Singaporeans some sleepless nights with logic defying explanations for floods, fare adjustments and hosting international events, YOG and conventions etc that irritated much of the population.

Agreed that despite the above-mentioned, Singaporeans by and large are not shaken and probably need big blunders, more spikings and more spurs to wake up. Though this maybe the case, there is still much need to to wake up the wide eyes, talk big and blur commanders that are leading us like the legendary piper, to You know where.

patriot

Anonymous said...

"Minister for Transport Raymond Lim spun in parliament on Monday about both SBS Transit and SMRT expecting to lose $32 million this year alone, relative to how much they would have earned without distance-based fares. How can they dare to lose money if SMRT revenues grew 9 percent to $235 million from last year, and SBS Transit grew 6.5 percent to $179.83 million? If the distance-based fares will cost public transport operators $88 million a year in revenue as he claims, why did Lim go ahead with the exercise? Is he getting tired of the millions clogging up the bank account? Is he authorised to dump money like Temasek? In time, we'll know the truth when the directors' fees and bonuses are totalled up at the end of the year. "

Link: http://singaporedesk.blogspot.com/2010/08/four-legs-good-or-two-legs-better.html