SMRT and buses cut fares

The Public Transport Council(PTC) is showing its caring side by announcing a reduction in SMRT fares ranging from 2c to 18c or a bit more for those who need to transfer from bus to train and vice versa. The more the commuters do their transferring acts, the greater will be their savings. The transport operators will be transferring the savings from govt subsidies to the commuters. I was worried for them for a while when I thought they would have trouble explaining to their shareholders for the loss in profits with the reduction. SMRT claimed that it would have to fork out another $30m to $40m even with the govt subsidies. Would they be incurring a loss then? Maybe not with oil prices coming down rapidly to almost its previous level and with the big increase in ridership. My prediction is that SMRT will chalk up even bigger profits next year. Good for them. Let me compute how much savings will I get before I pop that bottle of champagne. 2c a trip, 2 trips a day and 22 trips a month. Viola, I save 88c! So I will be able to go for that additional cup of kopi in the hawker stall. Not bad. My cost of living is coming down. For those taking buses, the savings could be 20c or more per trip. Very good. Maybe I shall take buses instead and save more. Better still, take bus, train, bus combination, maybe I can save enough for two plates of chicken rice. Great idea.