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Got into an accident with an SMRT Bus. Anyone with experience dealing with SMRT? Or would does it make more sense to leave it completely to the insurance company? Thanks for any advice!

SMRT has confirmed an order of 570 new buses, which includes 332 MAN 12-metre buses, 40 MAN articulated buses, and a total of 201 Alexander Dennis Enviro 500 double deckers. This the new livery of SMRT ADL double deckers to be launched soon As part of the initiative to increase bus capacity on longer routes and bring greater comfort to the commuter’s bus journey experience, SMRT has confirmed the delivery of over 570 buses. Orders are confirmed for 332 MAN 12-metre buses, 40 MAN articulated buses, and for the first time, a total of 201 ADL Double Deckers. This is the largest fleet renewal and growth initiative by SMRT to date, and re-affirms the company’s commitment to offering commuters the highest standards in safety, reliability, care and comfort. A first batch of about 30 buses will be delivered to SMRT’s bus depots in June 2014. The vehicles will undergo further tests including functional, systems and road tests before joining SMRT’s existing fleet of over 1,200 buses to serve commuters from July 2014. SMRT Buses will be introducing the rest of the fleet progressively till end 2016. The addition of the ADL Double Deckers in particular will help ease crowdedness during peak hours, particularly on longer routes with high passenger loads. Together with other bus orders, these new vehicles will replace older bus models, and address the need for more bus trips and better bus service levels. Mr. Benny Lim, Senior Vice President for SMRT Roads said, “We are very excited with this major fleet expansion and renewal initiative. Expanding our existing fleet with ADL Double Deckers and MAN buses will enable us to better address increasingly dynamic road conditions, and ensure enhanced capacity in handling increased ridership. We look forward to bringing passengers even more comfortable and reliable rides.” Of the over 570 buses that SMRT has confirmed delivery for, 218 are introduced and funded under SMRT’s participation in the Land Transport Authority’s Bus Service Enhancement Programme. http://www.mynewsdesk.com/sg/smrt/pressreleases/smrt-buses-enhances-strategy-for-fleet-growth-and-renewal-double-deckers-among-confirmed-delivery-of-over-570-buses-979666

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/2-smrt-staff-dead-in/2625352.html?cid=cna_editorspick_070814 "(They) were part of a technical team that went down to the track to investigate a reported alarm from a condition monitoring device for signalling equipment. Permission to access the track was authorised," said Mr Nathan. "Initial findings indicate that before the accident happened, the team was moving in a single file on the walkway beside the track, on the way to the location of the signalling equipment." The brother of a signals officer who witnessed the accident told Channel NewsAsia that the signals officer was "traumatised".

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/2-smrt-staff-dead-in/2625352.html Services between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris MRT stations were disrupted on Tuesday (Mar 22). The SMRT incident on Mar 22, 2016. (Photo: Sue Rosli) SINGAPORE: Two SMRT maintenance staff have died after an accident near Pasir Ris station, the transport operator confirmed on Tuesday (Mar 22). "At around 11.10am today, there was an accident involving two SMRT maintenance staff along the track at a servicing point near Pasir Ris station," said Mr Patrick Nathan, Vice-President, Corporate Information and Communications, SMRT Corp. "SCDF was immediately activated and they have confirmed that the two SMRT staff have passed away. We convey our deepest condolences to their families and will be providing support to them at this very difficult time," added Mr Nathan. "We are working with the Police to conduct a detailed investigation into this accident." The brother of a signals officer who witnessed the accident told Channel NewsAsia that the signals officer was "traumatised". Pasir Ris resident Francis Dorairaj, who was at the scene, expressed shock and disbelief. "Why were maintenance people on the track when the train was operating?" he questioned. TRAIN SERVICES DISRUPTED Train services along the East-West Line were also disrupted. SMRT announced at 11.20am on Twitter that there would be no train services between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris in both directions until about 12.15pm. This disruption was later extended till 12.45pm, but by 1.35pm, service had not yet resumed. The train service provider updated 10 minutes later that free regular and shuttle bus services were available. The train disruption on the East-West Line on Mar 22, 2016. (Photo: Diane Leow) Social media users reported seeing personnel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Singapore Police at Pasir Ris station. According to SCDF, it was alerted to the incident at Pasir Ris MRT station at 11.11am. A fire engine, A Red Rhino, two fire bikes, two ambulances, and three support vehicles were dispatched. SCDF confirmed that two men were pronounced dead at the scene.

I witnessed a hit and run by a SMRT taxi in the carpark area of Tampines Blk 424 around 6.10 pm this evening (20 Sep). My car cam captured the SMRT reversing and hitting i think was a silver Chevy Cruze on the front right side. Car cam resolution was not good enough to see the license plate of the taxi. I wanted to give chase to the taxi but was too slow. Sorry to the bro whose car was hit. I have screen shot two photos of the taxi 'in action'. I think got case if lodge complaint with SMRT and ask them to check if any of their taxis was in the vicinity at that time...i think all taxis have GPS positioning and the companies would know the exact whereabouts right? Hope the photos help.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/glaring-problem-threatened-teen-incident-030021383.html SG stress ah stress!!!!!

What is wrong with taxi drivers nowadays? Terrible, terrible, terrible ! So fed-up I sent the following complaint to SMRT. Wait till I get my in-car video camera and next time when such incidents happen again, I will send the video recordings straight to the Traffic Police. ========================================== To: SMRT I am writing to lodge a complaint against SMRT taxi driver of SHB 5968 U. On 13 Oct 2013, at approximately, 6:16pm, I was Bukit Batok West Ave 3 traffic junction (Lane 2), waiting to turn right into Bukit Batok Road. I was the first vehicle. On my right (Lane 1) was SMRT taxi SHB 5968 U, also the first vehicle. When the traffic light turned green in our favour, both our vehicles proceeded to turn right. However, the SMRT taxi SHB 5968 U, instead of turning from lane 1 into the corresponding lane 1, dangerously turned into my turning lane (lane 2) instead, almost causing a near accident terrible accident. I had to immediately jam-brake and blare my horn to register the danger. The SMRT taxi driver (SHB 5968 U) was unhappy with being horned at and tailed me to the next traffic light. He stopped next to my car (it was red light), wound down his window, and I wound down my front passenger window (where my wife was seated - behind were my young children). He made some hand gestures and I told him he should turn properly from lane 1 into the corresponding lane 1. He then made some smuck facial expressions that he saw nothing wrong with his driving, before flashing his middle-finger at both my wife and myself. He then sped off. We travelled along the same direction and over at Brickland Road traffic light junction, when it was red light, i managed to take a photo of the SMRT taxi concerned (SHB 5968 U). I am registering my complaint specifically on the following: 1) Dangerous and inconsiderate driving by SMRT taxi driver of SHB 5968 U - turning from a lane 1 turning lane into a lane 2 turning lane and almost resulting in an accident. 2) Rude and unbecoming behavior with the flashing of his middle-finger at my wife and myself I encourage SMRT to review the in-cab video camera of SMRT taxi SHB 5968U and its black-box, if any (I understand Comfort delgro cab installs such devices). It will show very clearly how your SMRT driver drove so dangerously and inconsiderately. I saw that there were passengers in the taxi as well. I encourage SMRT to try and contact them and i am sure, they can verify how your SMRT taxi driver of SHB 5968U had flashed his middle-finger, unprovoked. The relevant illustration and photo is attached for reference. I am extremely appalled and troubles over this callous and dangerous SMRT taxi driver of SHB 5968U. He had not only shown his lack of understanding of prevailing driving rules, but also displayed an unbecoming behavior that speaks so negatively of SMRT, an established Singapore public transport and service provider. I would like SMRT to investigate this matter and I do sincerely demand an explanation as well as SMRT's follow-up actions taken against this terrible driver of SMRT SHB 5968U. I look forward to SMRT's prompt update. Thank you. For all forummers information, I posted full-plate number as I read the forum guidelines and noted that the previous ban on posting full-plate numbers have been lifted. FYI, i posted full-plate numbers as I read and confirmed from forum guidelines that this previous ban on full-plate numbers have been deleted.

28 injured after bus collision at Changi Road POSTED: 04 Jun 2015 12:02 UPDATED: 04 Jun 2015 12:10 Bus collision at Changi Road. (Photo: Jack Teo) A A SINGAPORE: Twenty-eight people were sent to the hospital on Thursday morning (Jun 4) following an accident involving three buses along Changi Road, near Masjid Kassim. The Singapore Civil Defence Force said they were alerted to the accident at 9.30am and dispatched a fire engine, three ambulances and three support vehicles. Those injured were sent to Changi General Hospital. A hotline caller, Jack Teo, notified Channel NewsAsia of the accident at 10.14am, and sent us the following pictures of the incident. Pics from CNA

Was reading the Life section of Saturday's newspaper and was surpise to read in the car section that SMRT is considering the Chrysler 300C as a taxi.

SINGAPORE: Police have arrested two 21-year-old men, who are believed to be involved in the recent case where an SMRT train at Bishan Depot was reported to be vandalised. The men were arrested n Malaysia, said Police on Friday (Nov 21). Details to come. - CNA/dl but...I wonder why this photo...

http://business.asiaone.com/news/smrt-works-omg-bid-spores-4th-telco SINGAPORE - Transport operator SMRT has announced that it will work with OMGTEL (OMG) to bid for Singapore's fourth wireless telecommunications (telco) carrier licence, according to local media reports. They never explain the rational. To make money from the Telco business and pay for the losses on the train service?

Here we go again & the spin doctors are hard at it doing window dressing; http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/from-april-a-2-8-hike-in/1605426.html SINGAPORE: There will be an overall increase of 2.8 per cent to public transport fares following the conclusion of the 2014 Fare Review Exercise, the Public Transport Council (PTC) announced on Wednesday (Jan 21). How the 2.8 per cent figure was calculated: By aggregating the 3.4 per cent fare adjustment quantum carried over from the 2013 Fare Review Exercise with the -0.6 per cent figure from 2014, the PTC said. But fares for senior citizen, and existing monthly travel concession prices will not rise, said the PTC. The Transport Ministry separately announced on Wednesday that fares for lower-wage workers and persons with disabilities will not increase, while the monthly concession pass for persons with disabilities will remain at S$60 per month. “In total, more than 1.1 million commuters will see their fares unchanged,” the PTC said in a press release. FARE CHANGES FROM APRIL From Apr 5 this year, adult card fares for buses and trains will increase by 2 to 5 cents, while student concessionary fares will increase by 1 cent, the PTC announced. Cash fares for adult bus and train rides will increase by 10 cents, while senior and student cash fares will remain unchanged. The prices of all monthly concession passes for adults, National Servicemen and senior citizens will remain the same, it reiterated. The PTC said bus and train fares will continue to be affordable, even for lower-income groups, as household income growth has generally outpaced household expenditure in public transport. For instance, in 2013, the second quintile (the 21st to 40th income percentile) and second decile (11th to 20th income percentile) of households in Singapore spent 2.2 per cent and 3.1 per cent of their monthly income on public transport, respectively. These were down from the 3.2 per cent and 4.6 percent, respectively, in 2003, it said. Said PTC Chairman Richard Magnus: “In approving the fare increase and deciding on the quantum, the Council made a concerted effort to minimise the impact on commuters, even to the extent of insulating some from the increase altogether. Overall, the fare adjustments for the 2014 fare exercise are lower than last year’s adjustments.” IMPACT ON OPERATORS With the fare increments, the PTC said the two public transport operators – SBS Transit and SMRT – will have to contribute S$5.5 million and S$8 million, respectively, to the Public Transport Fund. The total of S$13.5 million is S$2 million more than their contribution last year, according to the press release. The Government will utilise the Public Transport Fund to provide Public Transport Vouchers to lower-income households to mitigate the increase in their travel expenditure, it added. “I am always very concerned not only with making transport fares affordable, but making sure that our low-income families who need more assistance will be looked after,” Mr Magnus said. “The contributions to the Public Transport Fund by the operators will help defray the travel expenditure of these needy families.” "PLEASED" VULNERABLE GROUPS NOT AFFECTED BY HIKES: LUI Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said on Facebook that he was "pleased" that more than 1.1 million commuters, particularly more vulnerable groups like senior citizens and persons with disabilities, will not experience a fare increase. "Looking at the overall outcome of this year’s fare adjustment exercise, I believe the Public Transport Council has achieved a good balance between keeping fares affordable for Singaporeans and maintaining the viability and sustainability of our public transport system," he wrote. He added that the 250,000 public transport vouchers of S$30 will be provided to needy commuters, and the ministry aims to simplify the application process further. "We also have other plans on the meaningful use of the Public Transport Fund and I will share these with you when we are ready," the minister said.

epic fight happening. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=905494999474713&id=315021665188719

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/what-is-buzzing/-human-tetris--takes-place-on-jammed-lakeside-mrt-platform-031532683.html A video of passengers crashing against one another at the top of an escalator leading to the platform of a train station in Singapore is moving quickly on social media, prompting questions about the responsiveness of staff there. The 36-second video, posted by Facebook user Joel Rasis, shows commuters arriving at the platform of Lakeside MRT station from an up-riding escalator, but because the area appears to be full, they promptly end up sandwiched between one another. This goes on continuously for at least 25 seconds before the camera pans down to the ticket concourse level, where staff appear to have just stopped commuters from stepping onto the escalator. A report on the incident in citizen journalism portal STOMP quoted Rasis as saying there was a train fault affecting eastbound service at about 7:40am on Tuesday. What happened was commuters were instructed to get off the train, and at the very same time, a new batch of commuters were heading to the platform on the escalator, he reportedly said. There was basically no more space on the platform, he added, noting that the next train toward Pasir Ris only arrived about 20 minutes later. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203045960485629

http://youtu.be/MGIPmWd24kc Was clearing my SD card when i came across this video back in 31 Jan 2014. I was traveling along KPE towards Punggol when the SMRT taxi cross the diagonally hatched divider road markings. So I gave him a normal horn just to get his attention.. (not those long horn to irritate him) Video no sound as my car cam recorder audio settings was not activated. I saw him cross the divider and i brake lightly to slow my speed (at around 4 sec in the video) and then i release my brake as I though he will still be moving. Then dunno for what reason he jam brake in front of me. This guy must be an idiot i guess.

how did they find this so-call 81 year old expert as a witness?? want to fight a multi-million dollar case, at least do more homework than using a photo from internet and a computer program...... [shakehead]

whoaaaaa...dun pray pray LTA may take action against SMRT for letting ACS (I) charter trains 1/3 Students from Anglo-Chinese School taking a chartered MRT train at One... [MORE] Students from Anglo-Chinese School riding in a chartered MRT train to... [MORE] Students from Anglo-Chinese School waiting for a chartered MRT train at... [MORE] Students from Anglo-Chinese School taking a chartered MRT train at One... [MORE] Students from Anglo-Chinese School riding in a chartered MRT train to... [MORE] SMRT failed to seek necessary approval before agreeing to provide the service mail print View all 9 comments BY JOY FANG [email protected] PUBLISHED: 11:05 PM, AUGUST 26, 2014 SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is looking into taking action against SMRT, for letting Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) charter five of its trains to transport students and staff to the Schools National C Division rugby final match held today (Aug 26) at the National Stadium. The public transport operator had failed to seek the necessary approval from the authorities, an LTA spokesperson said in response to media queries. Under its licence to operate the Circle Line, SMRT must obtain approval if it wishes to provide train services that are not open to the public. “In this case, SMRT did not seek our approval before agreeing to provide the service. We are looking into the appropriate action to take. We have also reminded SMRT that its primary focus must be to ensure good service delivery to the commuting public at large,” the LTA spokesperson said. TODAY understands that for all MRT lines, approval from the authorities is required if a public transport operator wishes to offer services beyond its core business of providing train services to the public. When contacted, SMRT did not say if it knew that it had to seek approval. It had previously worked with schools in chartering trains to transport students for large-scale events over the years, including for the National Education Shows during National Day Parade rehearsals. Requests are reviewed on a case-by case basis and generally, the schools should be within walking distance to stations and the destination needs to be on the same train line. SMRT also stressed that no passenger services were affected and train intervals were maintained at “normal service levels at all times”. Chartered trains are injected in between normal train services and run only within off-peak hours. It added that only one-way services were provided to ACS (I), as the return journey would have taken place during peak hours. It is understood that the chartered trains would not have been in service during off-peak hours. ACS (I) had chartered the trains to transport 3,000 of its students and staff to the rugby match, which was the first school final to be held at the new National Stadium at the Sports Hub. The move provoked a flurry of both dismay and support from the public, with some questioning whether some schools were getting special treatment and whether SMRT could have put the additional trains to better use for the public. Others felt it was an efficient way of transporting students without affecting road traffic. ACS (I) principal Winston Hodge had told The Straits Times that it would have taken at least 80 buses to transport its staff and students, and the trains were a “cost-efficient” way of getting them to the Sports Hub. Neither the school nor SMRT revealed the cost, but it reportedly came to S$2 a head. The students were to travel directly from one-north station to Stadium station on the Circle Line. The match saw ACS (I) beat defending champions Saint Andrew’s Secondary 28 to 8. CEO of SMRT is ex ACS boy from the reports

女郎晚上下班后搭地铁，坐在疑被人放置腐蚀性液体的座位，臀部被烧焦入院。 事发时，女郎在莱佛士坊转换地铁，一上车看到有空位就坐了上去。谁知坐下后，就感觉裤子湿湿的，发现座位上有液体，以为是水，也不以为意，换到对面的另一个座位。 不到一分钟，她的臀部突然传来阵阵的灼热感，原本打算在政府大厦下车，但想早点回家，决定忍一忍。 岂料到了多美歌地铁站，臀部的灼热感变成刺痛，她再也忍不住，马上下车到女厕查看，骇然发现右臀

https://www.facebook.com/SMRTCorpSG Unfortunately, for those of us with 5 digits, you gotta figure it out yourself.

PREVENTION is considered the best approach to modern healthcare. Instead of treating a health issue when it occurs, it is more effective to prevent it from occurring in the first place. The same goes for our rail network. To maintain the health of this vital service, it is important for the operators, Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) and SBS Transit, to take on the role of doctor by checking the network's pulse and reacting swiftly if it misses a beat. Singapore has grappled with disruptions to train services in recent months, including a delay on the North-South Line in January that affected some 19,000 commuters during the peak-hour rush. With an expanding yet aging network that now carries more than 2.5 million passengers a day, it is even more important to undertake regular health checks. SMRT and SBS do undertake regular rail infrastructure upgrades, although often as a result of deterioration and service disruptions. Earlier this year, 120km of the Circle Line's power cables were replaced following power outages in 2011 and 2012. In February 2013, 1,600 U-bolts holding up the North-East Line's power lines were also swapped after corrosion resulted in disruptions in early and mid-2012 and early 2013. But it is encouraging to see that operators are starting to proactively monitor the network's pulse to detect issues before they arise. Implementing a Big Analog Data™ system - which enables physical data such as train speed, vibration and heat levels to be remotely collected, analysed and converted into digital data - will allow operators to identify and fix issues before they even occur. The cost savings from such adaptive learning techniques will also be much more significant compared to post-breakdown maintenance. Plans are in place to upgrade the network to develop a fully integrated, multifunctional monitoring system, which will enable early detection of issues and reduce the risk of outages, with some trains on the North-South and East-West lines already equipped to collect real-time measurements and statistics and identify problems as they run. Real-time data detection devices could greatly support network functionality and maintenance as part of a broader system covering all lines, but like preventative measures to improve personal health will take time to implement and take effect. Issue-specific monitoring In France, the Régie Autonome de Transports Parisiens (RATP) recently renewed its maintenance monitoring process. RATP operates the city metro and the regional express network (RER) which transport around three billion passengers a year, making it one of the most widely used public transport networks in the world. One of the key issues facing the RATP is rail movement, with environmental factors such as changes in temperature impacting the position of the rails. This means that RATP needs to constantly monitor rail position, a cumbersome process which was carried out manually until 2011. Three years later Railshift, a completely autonomous system for acquiring, processing, analysing and reporting data was implemented on a segment of the RER to monitor rail movement. Twelve measuring stations were set up to capture rail positions and monitor movement, using image processing and analytical technology. Track position measurements are analysed and e-mail alerts are distributed when a critical threshold is reached, enabling service crews to attend to issues before they become larger problems that could disrupt services. Automating track position reading has not only made data analysis more regular, but has also made the process safer for operators, as manual interaction with the track is no longer required, particularly when the trains are running. Image processing is also available through the application to take instantaneous measurements of larger areas of infrastructure, saving time and money. The implementation of the measuring stations has proved to be so successful that RATP has planned to install another eight new measuring stations. Holistic condition monitoring Another example of the benefits of using integrated remote access monitoring systems is in Holland where VolkerRail carries out maintenance work across the country's rail network, during which it is required to maintain a minimum railway operating time, or face hefty fines. To deliver the required up-time, VolkerRail installed an online condition monitoring system at the most critical points across the network, including tracks and level crossings. The system has now been running for over two years. A server stores all the data in a database. On this server, queries run constantly to detect event failure patterns, show trends and send text message alarms to surveillance teams. By taking multiple measurements and monitoring them over time, VolkerRail is able to track the current "health" of the infrastructure. Automatic analysis of trends enables VolkerRail to detect potential problems and have the maintenance crew attend to them before they cause service disruptions. Being able to pinpoint the location and time an issue occurs also help in ascertaining the likely cause, decreasing downtime during repair. Within a year, more than 200 complex monitoring systems were installed across Holland's rail network to track the status of rail infrastructure. Singapore's rail network will continue to expand in line with the Land Transport Authority's plan to double the length of the national rail network to 360kms by 2030. We simply cannot miss the train when it comes to service reliability and commuter safety. With proactive planning and investment in equipment that allow SMRT and SBS to monitor its pulse, we too can have a fully integrated, real-time monitoring system to help keep the network's health on track. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG by Chandran Nair The writer is managing director, South-east Asia, National Instruments. Since 1976, National Instruments (www.ni.com) has equipped engineers and scientists with tools that accelerate productivity, innovation and discovery

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-gq5aCqqmA found this damm hilarious. had to share with you guys.... lol

So good huh Read here: http://unbrandedbreadnbutter.wordpress.com...he-wrong-track/ SMRT’s Dividend Policy SMRT has a policy that guides it to distribute at least 60% of their profits as dividends. In fact, it has consistently (since 2006) distributed about 75% or more of their profits. For example, in 2010, it earned 10.7c per share and distributed 8.5c as dividend, amounting to almost an 80% distribution of its profits. Hence, if SMRT consistently distributes most of its profits back to its shareholders, how much does it have to to competently maintain, renew, reinvest and innovate on its operations?? Does it then go against the whole purpose of why it was privatised in the first place? In the years when Singapore’s population was booming due to immigration policies, why didn’t SMRT retain and reinvest more of its profits rather than continue to distribute high dividends (and continue to stress the rail systems)??

SMRT Night Rider services to be scaled back Public transport operator SMRT is scaling back its Night Rider services due to low ridership. From April 30, Night Rider services heading towards the city will cease to operate. SINGAPORE: Public transport operator SMRT is scaling back its Night Rider services due to low ridership. From April 30, Night Rider services heading towards the city will cease to operate. Night Rider services NR1, NR2, NR3, NR5, NR6, NR7 and NR8 leaving city towards residential areas will also end earlier -- at 2am, instead of the current 4.30am. SMRT said that from April 30, these seven services will operate from 11.30pm till 2am on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as on eve of public holidays. SMRT's Director for Media and Marketing Communications Alina Boey said that ridership for Night Rider has declined steadily over the years to 11,000 per year as of February 2014. "This translates to about 350 passengers across seven services per night, more than a 50 per cent drop since February 2008. Curtailing services between 2am and 4.30am allows us to maintain a balance between reasonable services for commuters and business sustainability," she added. - CNA/ac http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/smrt-night-rider-services/1070866.html?cid=FBSG

BIG Idea No. 2 is a no-brainer: Make Singapore’s public transportation No. 1 in the world. Why is it a no-brainer? Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur as well as Bangkok and Manila face the danger of more or less permanent gridlock with massive traffic jams. I pray and hope it will not happen, but I am also prepared to take bets it will. But even if our neighbours strangle their cities in this way, their countries will continue. Singapore does not have this option. If our city strangles itself to death with massive traffic jams, both the city and country will collapse. Good public transportation is therefore not an option. In Singapore it is a critical necessity. Unrealised potential FORTUNATELY, we have all the ingredients in place to create the world’s best public transportation system: money, meritocracy and motivation (the three Ms). We are one of the richest countries in the world in terms of financial reserves. We can pay for the best system. We also have one of the best civil services, if not the best, in the world. I know this well as several leading global scholars have asked me why Singapore does so well in public administration. Few other governments in the world can match the quality of minds we have in our Administrative Service. And we also have the motivation. For us, good public transportation is a matter of life and death. With all these assets in place, it was truly shocking to read in The Straits Times on Feb 13 that Singapore’s MRT system is average in the world in terms of system breakdowns. According to Christopher Tan, senior transport correspondent for The Straits Times, “breakdowns on the 125-year-old, 340km, 24-hour New York City subway average one every 260,000km operated. Singapore’s 25-year-old, 180km network breaks down once every 120,000km”. When I told a Harvard professor this fact, he was astounded. He asked me: “Should I be proud of New York or worried for Singapore?” What happened? How did we go from being almost No. 1 in the world in MRT systems to falling behind ancient systems like that of New York? What mistakes did we make? How did it go so badly wrong? And what can we do now to reverse this negative slide and move towards making Singapore truly No. 1 in the world in public transportation? A 2012 PricewaterhouseCoopers survey found that Singapore’s public transport systems ranked behind those of Toronto, London, Stockholm, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Please let me stress one point here. I am not an expert on public transportation. I do not have enough data or information to explain what went wrong. All this requires a massive study. However as an amateur analyst of Singapore’s public policies, I believe that I can point out three challenges Singapore will have to overcome to succeed in its goal of becoming No. 1. All three challenges begin with the letter C. Critical mistakes THE first challenge is conceptual. Public transportation is a public good, not a private good. However, when Singapore was at the height of its infatuation with the Reagan-Thatcher intellectual revolution, we believed that the private sector was better at delivering some public goods than the public sector. This may explain several critical mistakes. My friends in the civil service have told me one of the biggest mistakes we made was to privatise the Public Works Department (PWD) and sell it off. In so doing, we lost both the engineering expertise and a storehouse of wisdom about the maintenance of public works. I hope that some day somebody will try to recreate the old PWD we used to have. We may have also made a mistake in privatising the MRT system, handing over the operation to private companies rather than government departments. In theory, private companies are more efficient than government departments in delivering services. Since they are concerned about the bottom line, they cut costs well. However, private companies do not factor in “externalities”. Hence when the private companies cut down on the maintenance of our MRT tracks to cut costs, they did not factor in the “cost” to the Government’s credibility when the system began to break down frequently. It will literally, not metaphorically, cost the Government billions of dollars to recover this lost credibility. This explains why the Government has provided SMRT with $500 million to improve the maintenance of the MRT tracks. This, in turn, creates public confusion as taxpayers ask why their money should help the bottom line of private companies. There is a simple solution. We should consider making the Ministry of Finance the sole shareholder of all our public transport companies, just as it is the sole shareholder of many government-linked companies. Fresh approach needed THE second challenge is the culture of conservatism. Having invested billions of dollars in an extensive train and bus system, we have worked under the assumption that we can only “tinker” with an established system and not start from scratch. This is a very dangerous and conservative assumption. If we work under this assumption, we will be reluctant to look for structural defects in our current system and be equally reluctant to explore bold and radical moves. If we are going to succeed in our goal of becoming No. 1 in the world in public transportation, we have to consider radical as well as conservative approaches. Here is one radical suggestion: Organise a global competition to encourage universities, think- tanks and global companies all over the world to put forward a new blueprint for Singapore’s public transportation system. There is a lot of expertise out there. A $10 million prize would be sufficient to attract a whole slew of new blueprints. And $10 million would be a small sum to spend considering the billions we have to put in to deal with systemic flaws. The winners of this global competition could be announced when we celebrate our 50th anniversary next year. Social experiments THE third C challenge we face is “comprehensiveness”. Public transportation can work well only if its planning is well integrated into existing urban planning policies. Each limb of our national planning must support other limbs. Let me cite a few examples. First, we have to deal with the “car” problem. As I explained in my previous column, despite the many disincentives put in place to discourage car ownership and use, we have actually created an ecosystem which makes it more rational to drive a car than to take public transport. We now have to create a new ecosystem that discourages car ownership and use. For a start, we should encourage new road experiments to change behaviour. In the year 2015, as part of our 50th anniversary celebration, we should exempt all taxis from paying Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges for one year. The goal of this social experiment is to see whether Singaporeans will make the rational decision to leave their cars at home and take taxis into the Central Business District to save on ERP charges. At the same time, we will also discover whether this leads to a surge in the supply of taxis in the CBD. This increase in supply of taxis in the CBD could, over time, increase demand and use of taxis in the CBD. I don’t know whether this will happen. Nobody knows whether it will happen. This is why we have to try out bold experiments. The financial cost of giving taxis exemption from ERP charges will be peanuts compared to the benefits we will get if people leave their cars at home. A downtown HDB estate? SECONDLY, we should consider the merits of building a massive HDB estate downtown. A lot of land will be freed up when the Marina Bay Golf Course lease ends. Why not build a big HDB estate there? The obvious response will be that the land is too expensive. But the land will not be as expensive as the land in Manhattan. In October 2011, I visited Manhattan in my capacity as chairman of the nominating committee of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize (New York subsequently won the prize in 2012). On this visit, the surprising thing I learnt was that Manhattan had a policy to ensure that it did not create an environment where only millionaires and billionaires could afford to live. Hence, even though the mayor of New York City then was a billionaire, Mr Michael Bloomberg, his administration worked hard to set aside land in this expensive midtown and downtown area for workers to live. Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Market Place Plan was designed to build and preserve 165,000 income-restricted units by June this year for 500,000 New Yorkers. It was the largest municipal affordable housing plan in American history. To some extent, this is what we did when we built the Pinnacle in Tanjong Pagar. We should now replicate the Pinnacle experiment in our new CBD. It is true that Singapore citizens who live in this CBD public housing will get a subsidy. However, if they use less public transportation to commute into the CBD, they will not be using the subsidies that are being given to every user of public transport. We will also enhance the social harmony of Singapore by giving less well-off Singaporeans a stake in the CBD. The third social experiment we can try is to build shoe-box garages next to every MRT station. The idea would be to allow us to walk out of an MRT station and rent a two-seater air-conditioned electric vehicle to take us across the last mile of our journey (and back). Clearly, our hot and humid weather makes it difficult to walk the last mile to our destination. Hence we have to create ingenious solutions to encourage people to avoid driving and take public transport. And soon we may have driver-less vehicles which will be able to do this job too. There are many ways we can make Singapore’s public transportation No. 1 in the world. If there is one country in the world that has the means and motivation to achieve this goal, it is Singapore. So why don’t we just get started?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=505303449584721&set=vb.487870694661330&type=2&theater During the train breakdown, they needed a pair of scissors to do repairs??????