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Showing posts with the label Transport

Next Transport Minister

Source Today I read that Mr. Khaw Boon Wan took up the transport minister job, I thought he must be crazy, this must be the worst position ever, mainly due to the several train disruptions we had these recent years, our train simply cannot afford to break down because many people rely on it to get to work, to school, to shopping and whatever. Personally I haven't been very affected by the disruptions, I think I have been caught in one or two disruption, can't remember exactly, but the last one was at east side, the train stopped due to train fault, so I ended up taking a bus home, was not that bad because I was quite near home already. Anyway I think Mr. Khaw might have a chance, he seems to have done well on the housing side, housing price seems to have stabilized which is a good thing for buyers but not so good for sellers, but good for young people seeking to own their first home, I think the latter is more important because nowadays most people don't want to s
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Some Bus Services Not Available

Just now me and wife wanted to take bus 961/855 to Bukit Merah central and when we were walking towards the bus stop, we saw a police officer at the overhead bridge, we wondered what he was doing there. There was also a barrier, I think they were going to close the overhead bridge or something. After that we saw quite a few people waiting for taxi at the bus stop, so weird, and after waiting for quite some time, I saw a notice stating that several bus services were suspended due to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew's state funeral. Two aunties were still waiting down there, I told them no bus if not they will keep waiting. So we went to Sheng Siong instead, on the way back, we saw a lot of police officers at the Commonwealth MRT station, I think the funeral car will pass by the station, they even blocked the entire station so no one can view down from above, I think it's a safety measure in case some crazy people throw stuff on the funeral car. And today so many shops are closed, I t
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A Few Taxi Drivers Short-Changed Me

These few days I needed to travel outside to settle some work issues, I took taxi several times a day and noticed that some drivers tend to short-change me a bit, 5 cents here, 10 cents there, for example the fare was $4.96, I gave $6 and he gave me back $0.95, I knew but kept quiet because it was not a big amount, but after taking several such rides, it does add up, still a negligible amount though, but felt a bit unfair because I can only claim up to the amount stated on the receipt so this kind of losses I have to absorb myself, but I won't go as far as to chase back this kind of money, just some small change, I take it as they don't have small change, they brought me to my destination and that's good enough. The last time I had to travel outside, it was in 2010 to 2011, from 2007 to 2009 I also traveled a lot due to work, that time the drivers were very law-by-law, 5 cents or 10 cents also cannot owe passenger, for the same situation like $4.96, I give $6, if they don
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SMRT Going to Increase Fares

Source As " predicted " (it's obvious to everyone anyway), SMRT is going to increase fares to bring in more profit, that's very much expected since they will be increasing bus drivers' salary and that means more "operating expenses". This year seems to be a bad year for them, Jan-Mar, they made a loss of $12.049 million, Apr-Jun, profit was $16.328 million, but down 55.2% from same period in 2012, Jul-Sep, profit was $14.304 million, down 57.1% from same period in 2012, for their coming Oct-Dec report, I think should also be "no eyes see". From a social point of view, increasing bus drivers' salary is a good thing, you increase their spending power which will also improve their quality of life, but from a financial perspective, this is not good for the company which is already struggling with incredibly high "operating expenses". But then again, to provide better services, spending more on staffing is necessary, this also help
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SMRT Bus Captains Can Earn Up to S$3500 a Month

Source I think S$3500 a month is more for experienced drivers, for new drivers probably will be lower because the new salary scheme is a progressive model, something like grading, higher grading higher salary, and of course higher grading means more experienced, and I think new drivers will surely start at the bottom of the hierarchy, so I don't think S$3500 a month applies to every of their drivers, furthermore, this amount is inclusive of overtime pay, allowance and incentives, which technically makes it even more unlikely for every driver to earn that amount. Of course I think it's a good thing for Singaporean bus captains to be able to bring home more money, it will also help to retain and attract more local drivers, with higher salary and a progressive career model, I think it's appealing even to younger people, so overall the idea sounds good. But I'm wondering where will all the money come from? I'm sure we will be expecting a fare hike announcement in th
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COE Climbing Up Again

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When the government introduced the new borrowing policy, the COE price for Cat A plunged, but now it's going up again, I think the demand is there that's why dealers will bid for it, which also mean people are willing to buy it anyway. Cat A COE on Aug 13 2013 Let's look at the new borrowing policy that was introduced this year. If your car OMV (Open Market Value) is <= S$20000, you can loan up to 60%. If your car OMV is > S$20000, you can loan up to 50%. The maximum loan tenure is 5 years. So let's say you buy a S$95000 car, you have to pay S$38000 i.e. 40% in cold hard cash, as for the other S$57000, you can only loan up to a maximum of 5 years, say at 2.88% interest per annum, you will need to pay about S$1087 a month. Car Loan Calculation Top that up with season parking, ad-hoc parking, fuel, ERP, road tax, insurance, maintenance, ad-hoc maintenance, I think it can all add up to more than S$1600 a month, I can understand if people buy it a
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Changed My EZ-Link Card to NETS FlashPay for Free!

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My EZ-Link card was peeling off so I went to an MRT station to ask for a replacement, and I was expecting to pay. Then the lady offered to change my card to NETS FlashPay for free. See, isn't it pretty... Front View Back View
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Long-Term Visit Pass - Plus (LTVP-PLUS)

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How to Marry a Thai in Singapore

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