SBS Premium Bus Service
1656 days ago
I find that Singapore is a very weird country. We are a country which is very dependent on the public transport which carries the majority of Singaporeans to work, school or everywhere. The cost of owning a car in Singapore is high, too high for most people to afford. You know, we have this thing called COE – Certificate of Entitlement. It supposedly allows you to own cars in Singapore. And it can cost like S$15,000 for just a piece of paper. It’s purpose is to reduce the number of vehicles in Singapore by making it more expensive. And they have this called ERP – Electronic Road Pricing. You pay as your car enters one of these gantries on certain “congested” roads. Although it is designed with greed in mind, I think it’s a good idea, Singapore is way too small to have so many cars.
But since not many people can afford cars, it make sense that there should be another medium of transport for Singaporeans. And it should be affordable to all. Yet, in Singapore, public transport is not subsided by the government. The ERP charges and the COE is not used to subsidy the public transport like buses and MRT (Mass Rapid Transport). I am surprised that the government takes money from car owners in the excuse of reducing car traffic yet don’t even use those money to help pay for public transport. And if you think that the public transport in Singapore is already cheap, think again. I can spend everyday around S$5 for transport alone. Worse for people travelling long distances. When I travel to my reservist camp, it cost more than S$8 for a 2-way trip. And since most people have no choice, Singapore’s public tranport is overcrowded. In the mornings, you can see trains and buses packed to the brim with people squashed like sardines. In fact, you don’t need to wait till morning, it’s packed even at non-peak hours. And I need to say, the public transport is slow. It would take you 1 hour to travel from Ang Mo Kio to Bedok in a public bus, if you are lucky. I think the bus service would like to squeeze as much passengers they can into a bus per trip so as to maximize profits.
And now, our great bus service – SBS has come up with a brilliant idea to help those people who hate crowds and have tons of cash to burn. They call it “Premium” service. Which means that you pay more for a “faster” bus and since it is way more expensive, it will be less crowded but no guarantees. Also it is supposed to be more comfortable. So guess what, it means that you pay more for something which they should have provided in the first place. Although they call it “premium”. The great minds (whom never took a public bus in their life) at the top of the company SBS believes that a normal bus service should be crowded, slow and uncomfortable. They are asking commuters to pay up to S$5 per trip to prevent all that.
Oh, if you don’t know, Singapore’s bus service is a profitable business. No, it’s not really owned by the government. But it’s a “private” entity with stocks and shares and shareholders. But it’s sort of a monopoly so you know how that will end up to be. You would think that the Singapore government will be shocked and pissed off with the behaviour of these businesses but they are not. But it is no surprise to us Singaporeans.
