Bus Fares to go up .. yet again

The headline of this front page article in the Straits Times should be:

Bus Fares to go up yet again!

In his movie, Just Follow Law, director Jack Neo expressed the popular belief that Singaporeans have very short memories. Still, very few of us should have difficulty remembering that just one year ago, the fares were raised. And just a couple months ago, the bus companies boasted of their outstanding performance and huge profits.

The TODAY newspaper has an even more disgusting headline. As if to taunt Singaporeans and remind them not to complain, they stressed that the increase was a mere 1 to two cents. And they printed 2 huge one cent coins on their front page. It's as if they are trying to say; "Don't think your 2 cents are bigger than bullock cart wheels."

I think Ms Ong Sor Fern’s commentary on the Michael Moore movie Sicko is appropriate here. Criticizing the US government for privatizing their health care system, she wrote:

“Quite simply, there is no excuse for any government not to take care of its citizens.”

I believe that public transport should be the responsibility of the government. Why should this be left to profit-making commercial organisations like SMRT and SBS. Every year, our government collects millions of dollars from car owners through the COE and ERP systems. Why isn’t this money used to subsidize public transport. Instead, they allow the transport companies to keep increasing fares, resulting in more and more people buying cars. Consequently, the car owners, who pay so much to drive cars have to bear with daily traffic jams.

What alternatives do we Singaporeans have? Drive and you get screwed. Take public transport and you also get screwed.

Only thing we can do is whine and complain; whilst the rest of the world laugh at us.