Am I the only one who thinks the costs of transport in Singapore is too complicated for anyone to understand?
Take for example the recently approved hike in bus and train fares, here is from the Public Transport Council website:
0.7% Fare Adjustment For 2008 With New Transfer Rebate of 40 cents
7-Cent Fare Reduction To 4-Cent Increase For Most Bus & Train Journeys
Firstly, how much increase is 0.7%? Secondly, is it a 7cent reduction or is it a 4cent increase? Now to go into the details of the fare increase from here :
Fares up by four cents per ride on buses and trains for adult EZ-link and senior citizen concession EZ-link card holders
Transfer rebate increased from 25 cents to 40 cents per transfer Fares down by seven cents for a journey with one transfer; greater reduction for journeys with more transfers
Fares on long-haul rides (beyond 28km on bus and 32km on train) up by 9 per cents per ride
The maximum adult EZ-link fare on an aircon trunk bus service will go up to $1.67 from $1.58, while the maximum fare on a SMRT train will go up to $1.84 from $1.75
Cash fares up by 10 cents per ride on buses and trains
Does anyone even understand this? I do not, and I will not be able to calculate exactly how much is my train fare just to go to work.
As for the taxi fares, it gets worst. Taking the taxi fares from Comfort website, the rates and charges page is like pages long!
And if we are not taking public transport but driving instead, how many of us can keep track of all the ERP gantries? How many of us know what are the charges for each gantry at each time of the day?
Why can’t they keep things simple and easy to understand?