This story was printed from TODAYonline 
Transport Minister tackles gripes on timing of ERP hikes, service improvement
Weekend • September 6, 2008
Neo Chai Chin
chaichin@mediacorp.com.sg
WHY was the number of public train and bus trips ramped up only after the Transport Minister said in Parliament that he expected an improvement in service from public transport operators?
This was the essence of the question from two members of the media at a dialogue on Friday with Transport Minister Raymond Lim.
In March, Mr Lim had spoken of raising the quality of buses and trains to make public transport more attractive. In May, SMRT said it would roll out 700 more peak-hour train trips a week.
This means that “MRT congestion was very bad for a long time” and that SMRT “could have increased the train trips way earlier”, said Ms Mayuko Tani, a staff writer with Japanese media company Nikkei Inc.
“Isn’t there a way the Government can regulate a little more, or guide in a way (so) that transportation companies can run ... not only for the shareholders, but for the passengers?” she asked.
Veteran journalist Peter HL Lim added: “Why weren’t they able to take corrective action before a directive of the Government?”
Responding to these questions and others at the event organised by the Singapore Press Club and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Minister Lim said the Government did not direct SMRT to increase train trips. The ministry’s preference was to have a regulatory framework of guidelines for operators to meet.
“We have a price-gap formula that ensures the operator cannot ... profit-maximise,” he said. “By putting the cap, we force the operator therefore to be efficient in order to earn a profit.”
The ministry also ensures commuter welfare by having service standards for the buses and operating performance standards for trains.
SMRT president and chief executive Saw Phaik Hwa later told TODAY that increasing train runs is something SMRT looks at “all the time”. But the operator is already running at maximum speed during peak hours, and improvements would “probably take a couple more years at least, when you can upgrade the system and bring in more trains”.
SUBHD: Why now? Why me?
In his 30-minute speech, Mr Lee took pains to address a couple of questions oft-voiced by commuters and motorists of late: Why now, and why me?
On drivers wondering why ERP rates had to go up now, Mr Lim used a weight management analogy to explain why “a little congestion” isn’t a little problem.
Like the Body Mass Index (BMI) used to indicate if one is overweight, Electronic Road Pricing is the “diet” the Land Transport Authority (LTA) places motorists on, if traffic speeds drop to unhealthy levels, Mr Lim said.
“But most people do not like diets ... In fact, the diet makes you feel weak and hungry, so why bother with it. Your weight continues to grow, and sooner or later you are in trouble. By then, dieting is no longer enough. More drastic measures are needed,” he said. Likewise, postponing ERP when congestion builds up is not a good idea.
Another bugbear, this time of commuters: The relatively bigger increase in single-trip fares once distance-based throughfares are rolled out. When the Public Transport Council announced that single-trip commuters may have to pay more to offset the transfer rebate increase for multi-trip commuters, some likened this to “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
But Mr Lim said that it was, in fact, Paul who is currently being “unfairly asked to keep Peter’s direct fares lower than they should be. Distance-based through fares will correct an existing imbalance, not bring about a new one”.
As commuters change their travel patterns – when they relocate their homes or workplaces – all stand to benefit, he added.
Mr Lim noted that transport policies will never please everyone, as different groups will be impacted differently. But the LTA engages the public before making policies. Citing the giving of cash rebates when motorists deregister their cars from this month, as well as its brought-forward review on traffic speeds in response to the concerns of Chinatown businesses, Mr Lim said consultation was a “key part of policy making”.
He urged those who have benefited from land transport changes to speak up – like a reader of Lianhe Wanbao did. The reader wrote in to suggest erecting gantries in Geylang, saying: “If you pay, then there are no traffic jams. If you don’t pay, then you get traffic jams. Geylang has no ERP, and traffic is jammed every day!”
But reassuring the audience, Mr Lim said: “This does not mean that we will rush to put up a gantry in Geylang. As with any other road, we will continue to monitor traffic speeds, measure its BMI, and act accordingly.”