Seriously, I am probably not the first, nor the last to complain about public transport and how it falls below expectations. Really, if public transport is that good, people may seriously consider public transport as one of their traveling options. Naturally, I have some peeves about the public transport service and let me know if you agree with me:

1. Frequency of buses. Seriously, I have never seen anything as erratic as bus timings. How can a bus be consistently arriving at 45 minutes interval during peak hours when the chart says 12-15 minutes? Even at off-peak hours, it’s supposed to be 15-18 minutes only!
2. Overcrowded buses. It never fails to baffle me how bus transport companies, knowing peak hours, do not schedule for more buses. I end up having to miss 3 to 4 buses before I can squeeze onto one. Considering #1, this usually means 1 hour or more of waiting.
3. Last bus not matching arrival of last train. Catching the last train home does not necessarily mean that I can get home on time. Mainly because the last train arrives much later than the last bus. Given the doubt that it’s a catch-22 situation, the last train reaches my place at 12:20am while the last bus is at 11:59pm. There is no catch-22. It’s called badly uncoordinated services.
4. Cleanliness of buses. This never fails to eek me. There are small cockroaches, some silver fishes, bugs, and other creepy crawlies. However, I do see bus captains cleaning their buses after the bus arrive at the terminal. What I suspect is a major smoke-out of the buses every fortnight or month. I hope this does not translate to fare hikes though.
5. Racing F1 buses. Come to think of it, I kinda enjoy buses that speed… to a certain extend. However, some drivers do take it over the limit and it felt like I was on the F1 track for a moment. I know that F1 is coming to town… still…

And here are some things that I hope to see included in the overhaul:

1. Bus stamps for everyone. I foresee that it’d be something that I might need in the future, so it’d be good for them to start implementing it - and no, the SBS transit Season Pass doesn’t quite count. We are looking at cross-service concession passes.
2. Ask who? Ask Iris doesn’t seem to work as well as it was meant to. Buses that were meant to arrive 5 minutes later were at the bus stop while "ghost" buses that were meant to be there… weren’t there.
3. Better connectivity. For me to get to get from Adam road to Orchard, I can either take any bus to Bukit Timah Road, cross the overhead bridge and take 171/174 or… walk to Dunearn Road. Hmm… both involve walks of 200m or more. Not a good choice if you are carrying heavy stuffs. No cabs too. Remember the fare hike?
4. More timely buses. This is a little hard especially when there may be road congestions. I’m not sure how this can be solved, but how about some form of alternative routes so that people can connect to other buses that goes to their destination?
5. Coordinated timings. One of the biggest peeves. Please time the bus and trains. It’s no point catching the last train back if I have to walk 3 km home from the station. Yes, some people are telling me that it’s better than walking 20 km. Then again, isn’t this supposed to be public transport? Serving the public? Do it well!

I’m sure there are many others, and it’d be nice to hear them too. I hope someone’s reading this blog… and oh, feel free to add on. =)

Mobile TV - literally TV on mobile phones, not to be confused with TV mobile, which is generally TV on in-vehicular units, particularly buses, will be kicked off in June this year by M1. For a start, it will be a trial by M1 subscribers to determine the popularity of this technology.

This is in fact nothing new as telecom operators in other countries such as Korea and Japan had been using this for a few years. Pick-up rate, however, had not been good because users have to stare into a small screen for their movies or TV serials. In addition, cost may be a factor because the need for a low subscription rate and the critical mass required for it leaves the telcos in a catch-22 situation.

Personally, I might give this a miss mainly because:

• I am not really willing to pay more for it
• I don’t quite enjoy staring into a small screen
• After my experience with iMode (Starhub), which locked me to a particular phone, I don’t think I want to be locked to another phone
• Battery life may be an issue - what good is a phone if the battery is flat from watching all the TV programs
• I doubt the quality of the transmission
• I would want to spend some time doing something else that will not leave my eyes tired after alighting from the train/bus

With regards to the last statement, I am not sure how different it would be compared to playing games on the PSP, surfing the net on the bus/train, playing games on mobile phones, or reading books - all of which strains the eye in one manner or another. Ultimately, the launch should be market-driven because the lack of subscribers will probably leave the telcos a bad aftertaste, while the absence of good TV programs will leave subscribers wanting.

Lastly there is the question on the type of programs that should be aired. I’m sure there will be a lot of people will difference preferences, but personally, Just-for-laughs, Mr Bean and anything that does not require a long attention span would be good. Of course, this is personal.

FROM June, an M1-MediaCorp trial of mobile TV will see direct broadcasts of full length shows to your handset. However, the Media Development Authority’s (MDA) offer of four mobile TV licences seems more technology- than market-driven.

The idea of converging the extremely high penetration rate of mobile telephony with TV, which everyone watches, is a beguiling one. With WAP, MMS and video calls not being quite the killer applications the telcos need in a saturated market for mobile lines, the search is on for something new.

Yet the trend is towards free video on demand, like YouTube. Being free is critical: On-demand for-pay TV over the Internet is not doing too well, with SingTel’s MIO service garnering only 10,000 subscribers thus far.

The other trend is ever richer content. Specifically, the young are drifting away from over-produced studio content, preferring instead user-generated content. (More later.)

For mobile TV to survive financially, people must want and be willing to pay for traditional broadcast TV on their cellphones. Yet a recent poll found that 95 per cent of Europeans are not interested in mobile TV. Similarly, in its position paper available for public comment through Friday, MDA reveals that ‘only 11 per cent of Singaporeans are willing to pay between S$5 and S$15 per month for (mobile TV, so) demand could be lower than elsewhere’.

There is no mass market demand here for TV simulcasted to mobile phones - even if an industry forecaster like New York-based ABI Research is cheerfully predicting a US$27 billion (S$39 billion) global market by 2010.

The reality is hard. In September 2006, Virgin Mobile became the first in Europe to broadcast TV to handsets. For £25 (S$70) a month, British subscribers got five channels 24/7 of normal free-to-air TV programming on the free Lobster 700, a lumpy handset as ugly as its name. (The service did not work on any other cellphone.)

By July 2007, despite a Pamela Anderson-fronted £2.5 million promotional campaign, Virgin had snagged only 10,000 subscribers in Britain. It was never rolled out to Europe as had been originally planned. The service terminates this month.

Fans would, however, point to South Korea, but even in the world’s quickest adopter of mobile innovations, mobile TV has not been a market success.

In a population of 48 million, there are nine million mobile TV subscribers, according to an October 2007 report from Telecoms Korea. But no operator is making money from this.

In fact, by August 2007, South Korea’s six terrestrial mobile TV operators had accumulated losses between US$22 million and US$33 million each. Its only satellite mobile TV operator, whose losses amount to US$220 million, has already laid off a third of its workforce.

Terrestrial systems use radio signals to broadcast TV and audio channels, which can be received on suitable handsets as well as portable media players and in-car navigation systems. Satellite systems use a satellite signal, which requires a handset that comes with a satellite antenna.

In South Korea, satellite mobile TV - with 13 video and 36 audio channels - costs subscribers US$13 a month on top of their voice and data contract, whereas the terrestrial system - with seven video and 12 audio channels - is free.

The only clear winners in all this are Samsung and LG, who sell expensive TV-ready handsets.

How was mobile TV pioneered in 2005? Basically, the South Korean government pushed it through by, first, mandating the digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) standard when the broadcast spectrum was auctioned off and, next, pressuring vendors to make devices to that standard. Then it made sure that there would be free mobile TV on the terrestrial systems: The studios do not allow telcos carrying their content to charge for the service. So although there are five terrestrial customers for every satellite customer, advertisement revenues have been marginal. The hope for terrestrial operators is that mobile TV might induce more to sign up for their high-end mobile lines.

Both business models, however, are hamstrung by a common problem: There is no killer content. Pundits thought that mobile TV content had to be ’snack entertainment’, as people would not squint at tiny screens for more than three to five minutes. Music videos were thought to be ideal while other TV content would likely have to be repurposed accordingly.

In fact, the satellite mobile TV service reported in June 2007 that its average user watched for a surprisingly long time - 64 minutes per day - and were demanding higher quality service. People were watching not just on the commute or at lunch but also while in the doctor’s or dentist’s waiting room, in the toilet, in secret - at work and in school - when they were bored at meetings or with classes, and in their bedrooms too.

It turns out that video length is not as crucial as content. In fact, in a 2007 field study, Nokia experts found that South Korean subscribers considered mobile TV content to be like third-rate programming on cable.

What do people want? In December 2007, Nokia’s Future Laboratory asked trendsetters in 17 countries about their digital lifestyles. From the study, Nokia extrapolated that, in five years’ time, a quarter of the entertainment that people consume will be content which they have themselves created, remixed and passed on to share with peers. Nokia attributed this to the ‘human desire to compare and contrast, create and communicate’.

Whereas once the act of watching, reading and hearing entertainment was passive, it said, consumers are increasingly demanding their entertainment be truly ‘immersive’. That is, people want to be able to access and create entertainment wherever they are, so the offline/online dichotomy will matter little.

It has also to be collaborative in that ‘consumers will want to be recognised and rewarded’, thus blurring the difference between being commercial and being creative.

Finally, as people begin to build their identities in things local, they will want entertainment to be more localised, customised and home-grown too.

If this is any guide, mobile TV cannot be simply (broadcast) TV on your mobile. Instead it must be a new service with a new kind of instantly engaging, made-for-mobile content that people want.

Where to source such content now? Even if service providers could do this and also overcome all other barriers - concerns about battery life, picture clarity, lags when channel surfing, handset pricing - so that mobile TV becomes a success in South Korea, it might still mean little for Singapore.

The South Korean government kick-started the market by mandating technology standards, spectrum allocations as well as free-of-charge terrestrial services to ensure customer uptake - all of which the MDA says it will not do.

But rightly so. Far better to wait and see how the cookie crumbles in South Korea.

andyho@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 17th January 2008

I had been on M1 broadband since more than 6 months ago and had been enjoying relatively high throughput for the past duration… until recently when M1 decided to jump onto the bandwagon and offered unlimited download for all their subscribers. This, in my own words, meant all hell breaking loose, and broke loose it did. Instantly, my throughput went down by almost 90% and at times, it was crawling even though it was connected to the 3G network. It crawled so badly that it felt like was slower than a 2400bps modem dial-up.

The next better player would then be Wireless@SG, which I discovered time and again, is equally hopeless. Back in the times when it used to be inaccessible, now, it is not even detectable! Haha… this isn’t about getting from bad to worse, this is about getting from bad to incorrigible. I don’t foresee any cure for Wireless@SG until 2 years later. This is when it is no longer free… or at least when it is no longer necessary to make it free for all to use.

I remembered rather remotely of a technology/protocol known as multi-linking, where, back in the good old days of modem dial-ups, 2 modems may be used in tandem to provide an effectively higher throughput. The result wasn’t anything to shout about but it worked. Feeling rather hopeless about the current state of wireless broadband, I search around the Internet and discovered nothing at all.

Definitely someone would have thought of something like this? Well, yes and no. Apparently, it’s so hard to multi-link 2 wireless connections that it is only available on higher end routers and not as a software package. There were many issues involved, particularly on packet handling and all, which made it unworthy of the time and effort to come up with a software solution.

Just today, I was desperately trying to make some submissions online and guess what? M1 broadband was crawling and Wireless@SG kept jerking and falling asleep. This wasn’t good at all. I had to wait for a duration when Wireless@SG would be stable for at least 5 minutes before I eventually submitted my stuffs. Is there really no way to zhng my wireless broadband?

On the other hand, I sometimes wonder of a conspiracy theory behind the provision of free broadband - and whether it was used to entice everyone into paying for one in the future. Well, 3 years is a long time to offer free Internet access and I’d bet by then that many Singaporeans will become addicts and s**kers for access while on the move. I know of at least a few other people who are already paying for supposedly better wireless broadband access - which, on hindsight, may really be better if left metered and controlled.

Humans are such indecisive creatures. We complain on everything possible. Limited complain, unlimited also complain. Wait till they increase the subscription fee then you know.

MM Lee was posed a question by Dr Quah who asked about Singapore’s progress in terms of social graces and environmental consciousness just as the country succeeds economically. "Not in my lifetime" was his answer. To this, I actually agree with him wholeheartedly.

Give me five, Kuan Yew! With all due respects of course, Sir.

I believed I’d have blogged about this some time or other, that it is very difficult for Singaporeans to be as matured socially as it is economically. An oft-used statement that I tell my friends is that while it is easy for Singaporeans to find ways to boost the economy and be entrepreneuring, habits are harder to cultivate. After all, humans are creatures of habit (and actually so were my cats).

From the complaints of people on seats not being given up to the elderly, pregnant and disabled to that of people not keeping to one side of the escalator to how people just condemn others with their "holier than thou" (thanks Dr Chua for the phrase) attitude when others did something wrong or something that is not accepted by the society, it is quite prevalent that it will remain this way for many years or generations (*gasp*!)to come.

Indeed, we recall about how the angmos are supposedly treated better while the locals experience more hostility less friendliness. This, after much thinking (not analysis, just thinking), could be due to:

• the encounter of more friendly and appreciative angmos
• the higher expectations of Singaporeans

Of course, there may be many other reasons, but since this is impromptu, these are the only 2 reasons that I can think of. Many a times, we may have encountered rude angmos but again, this is a statistical game. What I do think I know is that they have probably came a long way too.

Like MM Lee, I think think I’d see a gracious Singapore in my lifetime.

A gracious Singapore? Not in my lifetime: MM

He says cultivating social graces will take longer compared to environmental consciousness

By Li Xueying

ENVIRONMENTAL consciousness among Singaporeans will come about very quickly when they realise how they will be in trouble when changes in the climate take place.

But attaining a gracious society will take more time, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Monday at a dialogue marking the 40th anniversary of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Iseas).

In fact, he believes it will not happen in his lifetime.

‘I will not see it, maybe you will live long enough to see it; I wish you well,’ he told 48-year-old economics academic Euston Quah to laughter from the audience of diplomats, academics and government leaders.

Dr Quah had asked a question about Singapore’s progress in terms of social graces and environmental consciousness just as the country succeeds economically.

The issue he raised was among a host of subjects brought up by the audience, from the situation in Myanmar to the rise of China and India.

In his reply, Mr Lee said a gracious society will not happen so fast. ‘I think it will take more time to develop and mature culturally as a people.’

Even the British, he said, were ’sitting at a very high level over an empire for nearly 150 years before they developed their culture and then being invaded by football hooligans and foreigners who are now joining them and coarsening their society’.

‘So it’s very difficult to get a rough society onto a cultivated plane and it’s very easy to bring it down,’ he concluded.

Environmental consciousness, on the other hand, will come very quickly ‘when something happens and they say, you do that, your whole environment changes and you are in trouble’.

On the other hand, the idea of a gracious society - ‘where people are considerate to one another, where you don’t make more noise to upset your neighbour than you need to, where you tell the other motorist, please have the right of way’ - was ‘harder to come by’, said Mr Lee.

‘It will take time, but I hope it will come with cultivated living over a long period of time.’

Mr Lee recalled how, 45 years ago, Singaporeans wanted to take their chickens with them when they were resettled from kampungs into high-rise flats.

‘So it took some time to get them adjusted. A more cultivated way of life takes a very long time,’ he said.

xueying@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 9th January 2008

It’s been quite a long while since I last hopped onto a taxi without thinking much of the cost - after all, the papers and industry are right - the cost of taxi transport is relatively cheaper when compared to other developed countries. Of course, this was before the taxi operators decide to raise the fares of taxis recently, effectively bringing up the cost of taking a cab by almost 50% during peak hours.

On the fateful day that the fares were raised, all these changed. I stopped raising my hands as often as I would and I would think twice about the damage that I’d suffer should I decide to take the cab. Effectively, I have not taken a cab during peak hours. I wasn’t sure if I’d have an impact anyway, since the newspapers had been giving anecdotes of taxi drivers who praised the fare hike and that now they are earning a lot more.

However, there were recent news that some taxi drivers are in fact not earning as much as the papers have portrayed. It seemed that their businesses dipped tremendously - to the extent of some putting up notices of discounts. Unfortunately such innovations by the taxi drivers are not welcomed by LTA, who immediately slammed them (left, right and center), mentioning that this is illegal. There were reactions from some readers, with one highlighting the following:

When just a taxi driver give discounts, the authorities reacts so fast in the media. When so MANY taxi drivers tout, the authorities takes weeks to react.

Posted by: hongchris at Tue Jan 08 07:40:44 SGT 2008

There were also others who dug out the Public Transport Council Act:

The Public Transport Council Act (CAP 259B) states:

Bus, taxi and rapid transit system fares
23. —(1) No person shall be entitled to demand and take any bus, taxi or rapid transit system fare in excess of that approved by the Council.
[29/95;29/99]

(2) Subsection (1) shall not prevent any person from demanding or taking a lower fare than that approved by the Council.
[29/99]

This seems to shoot the LTA down, but no further details are known at this moment. However, the LTA thinks that by providing discounts, this may result in touting and is hence illegal. Hmm… so much for entrepreneurship.

There are also taxi drivers who are on the verge of swearing off driving taxis should business not pick up after Chinese New Year. After all, it’s during Chinese New Year that most businesses are gained, especially when the majority of Singaporeans are Chinese and that quite a handful probably do not own cars given the increased cost of ownership (COE, ERP, fuel hike).

The uncertainty, of course, lies until after Chinese New Year - since that’s when the litmus test really begins. A question that burns in my head is if Singaporeans really do have memory the size of a mouse? Are Singaporeans really that forgetful? Will "incentives" help them get over such things? What if the government throws in a transport rebate of $20, $50 or even a $100 to everyone before an impending transport fare hike? Will this help sooth any knee-jerk reactions?

Frankly, I don’t have the answers. However, there are still many people ("analysts") in Singapore who predicted this knee-jerk reaction and are persisting that we are still in the phase of a knee-jerk reaction - which I do not deny. After all, it’s still barely 1 month from the day that the fares were increased and conflicting anecdotes from taxi drivers do not really help much. LTA, of course, can only provide data after everything has "stabilized", by then, if the lack of customers persisted, I’m not sure how many taxi drivers would be emptying their saving accounts to pay rent if they are not already dead dead broke.

For me, I have struck off taking cabs as a means of transport and am usually left pondering the travelling salesman problem. It’s only in times of urgency and rush that I suddenly discovered a new form of (rather expensive) transport called taxis. Even then, it’d take a lot to get me to take one during peak hours. However, I know of business owners who take still believe that taxi fares are still really affordable in Singapore and are encouraging everyone to support the poor taxi drivers who really didn’t bring it upon themselves.

I sometimes wonder if ComfortDelgro had put any thought into this and if they really believed that Singaporeans are indeed forgetful. Food for thought, perhaps?

As above. Yes, it’s been quite quiet recently - except for the taxi fare hike brouhaha which will probably die down soon because Singaporeans will just learn to live with it. After all, we have no say, isn’t it? Even if the hike doesn’t prove to help in the congestion, it will "help the drives cope with the rising cost of driving a taxi" and will probably remain as it is.

Actually, Singaporeans will just make some noise initially - pretty much like the noises that we get in mass spectrometry, or the noises that we hear in recordings… or noises that we see in pictures taken at night with high ISO… you get what I mean; and at the end of the day… all these noises are ignored because we have to look at the bigger picture (quote MM Lee with all due respect).

Short of Dr Chee and other left-winged think tanks, most Singaporeans will never hold demonstrations or do other attention seeking actions because they either (i) feel that their opinions will not be heard, or that (ii) they fear risk of stigmatism or (iii) they believe that the government has the best interest for them and it’s either (iii.a) pointless to try to do anything or that (iii.b) it can be solved admirably. Quite a mouthful if you ask me, but I think the majority may agree that it’s just plain apathy. After all, most people feel that no one bothers if they live or die and that a death in a million is just a statistic - so what more a socio-political voice?

Anyway, with respect to rising cab fares and ERP rates, Singaporeans should be glad that, compared to Indonesia, we are much better off. At least it doesn’t take us 3 hours to complete a journey that usually take 30 minutes. In fact, speaking of these road woes, I just had a conversation with someone else regarding the mistakes of some political figure in Singapore and how he/she carried this mistake with him/her in which ever ministry/statutory board he/she went to. It was hilarious, at best, recounting all the misfortunate that happened with him/her around.

Apparently, he/she was the most hated publicly-disliked political figure. then again, this blog is not the right place to talk about such things; at least not by me. =)

There will be several changes to the CPF scheme starting from 1 January 2008. I’m not sure about you, but this somehow seems almost as complicated as the latest taxi fare hike scheme.

So, please correct me if I am wrong (and I might potentially be wrong), the interest rate for the current month Special, Medisave and Retirement Accounts (SMRA) is 1% + the 12-month average yield of the 10-year Singapore Government Security, which means that the interest every month will be different?

And if this falls below 4%, the government will give CPF members the 4% interest; and after 2 years, the SMRA will get 2.5% just like the Ordinary Account (OA).

An addition 1% will be paid for all accounts up to the first S$60,000 with a cap of S$20,000 on the OA. In addition, the required amount (RA) (something like a minimum balance) will be raised to S$14,000 from the current S$11,500, and gradually raising by S$2,500 each year until it reaches S$25,000 on 1 January 2013.

There are a few things that I would like to address here, starting from the interest rate for the OA and subsequently, the minimum requirement required to raise S$2,500 each year, which I think is much easier to calculate than the first issue.

What I am firstly concerned about is the cap on the OA. Working adults in Singapore know that the rate of growth of their OA is much faster than their SMRA because a larger percentage of their CPF contribution goes into the OA. With the cap on the OA, that means working adults will earn lesser interest on the whole because when their OA hits beyond S$20,000, they are only earning 2.5% for anything more than that. While their SMRA continues to earn 3.5%, the growth of the SMRA is much slower (statistics available from CPF website at http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Gen-Info/Con-Rates/ContriRa.htm; 66.67% of CPF contribution goes to OA, 14.49% goes to SA and 18.84% goes to MA).

There is no reason given for the S$20,000 OA cap.

This inevitably means that if you will be earning minimal interests for your CPF accounts since the only account that will be earning that 3.5% is your SMRA, which is already lower than what the CPF board is already giving. To add salt to the wound, you would not be able to invest any of the amount more than the S$20,000 cap if you do not already have S$40,000 in your SMRA.

To summarize the whole thing, in order to have S$60,000 in your CPF account, you would need to have earned S$173,913 in salary, assuming that the interest earned is negligible - and this will give you S$40,000 in your OA and S$20,000 in your SMRA. However, since you are earning 3.5% interest on your first S$20,000 of your OA and 3.5% for your SMRA up to the grand total (OA + SMRA) of S$60,000; and 2.5% for the remainder of your S$20,000 in your OA, your effective interest rate is

[(0.025 x 20,000) + (0.035 x 40,000)] / 60,000

= (500 + 1,400) / 60,000

= 0.03167

= 3.167% effective interest rate on the year that you hit the S$60,000 target

In addition, for CPF members who are interested in investing their CPF monies, and assuming that they earn about S$36,000 a year, this would take them approximately 5 years to hit this target, assuming that S$36,000 is a 5-year average.

There are also many other possible permutations of scenarios, which I will not be covering today. However, all I do know is that, if you are intending to buy a flat with your CPF monies, you can almost forget about investing your CPF money any more.

Singaporeans will continue to enjoy a 4-per-cent interest rate on their Special, Medisave and Retirement Accounts (SMRA) for the Jan 8 to March 8 quarter next year as several changes to the CPF scheme kick in from Jan 1.

In a statement yesterday, the Central Provident Fund Board said that savings in the SMRA would be pegged to the 12-month average yield of the 10-year Singapore Government Security (10YSGS) plus 1 per cent.

The average yield of the 10YSGS from Dec 1, 2006, to Nov 30, 2007, plus 1 per cent worked out to 3.9 per cent.

To help CPF members adjust to the floating SMRA rate, the Government will maintain the 4-per-cent floor rate for two years if the 10YSGS plus 1 per cent dips below 4 per cent.

However, after two years, the 2.5-per-cent floor rate will apply for all CPF accounts.

An additional 1 per cent interest will be paid on the first $60,000 of a member’s combined balances, with up to $20,000 from the Ordinary Account (OA).

The additional interest received on the OA will go into the members’ Special or Retirement Account to enhance his savings for old age.

CPF members turning 55 and who meet the Minimum Sum must set aside a required amount (RA) in their Medisave Account when they make a withdrawal.

From Jan 1, the RA will be raised to $14,000 from the current $11,500, increasing by $2,500 each year until it reaches $25,000 on Jan 1, 2013.

The changes will also affect the CPF Minimum Sum top up and investment schemes and housing withdrawal limits.

For details, log on to www.cpf.gov.sg or call 1800-227 1188.

Article obtained from todayonline.com on 13th December 2007

There are people who will take cabs, and there are people who won’t. Quite obvious isn’t it? The only difference is, how many more will and how many more won’t. The PTC, in less than 2 weeks, approved the fare hike proposed by ComfortDelgro which generally saw a hike in 2 areas: (i) flag down rate and (ii) city surcharge, which will be extended all the way from 5:00pm to midnight, overlapping the staggered midnight surcharge that is currently imposed. This means that a typical ride from the city will incur a surcharge that follows:

• Flag down rate of $2.80 (assuming a normal cab)
• City surcharge of $3.00 (between 5:00pm and midnight)
• Peak hour surcharge of $2.00 (between 5:00pm and 11:30pm)

Which gives a total of $7.80. If for some reason you decide to call a cab during peak hour, that will increase the basic fare to $11.30. This is comparative if you take a cab just before midnight (and with the disappearing syndrome still there), you end up paying about $11.40 (120% of $7.80 + $2.50).

The only thing that went down is prime-time booking surcharge from $4.00 to $3.50, although I don’t see how it can make a significant difference looking at how much more we are already paying for the basic fare.

Some cabbies are apparently cheering on the hike, citing the fact that people will just get used to the new taxi fares eventually. To the few that were interviewed, they probably feel that Singaporeans are very affordable and any furore over this hike will soon be over. After all, Singaporeans are known to have very short memory.

AN EXTRA $2 to pick up a passenger in the city area during peak hours is a welcome incentive for cabby Mohamad Sahat to head back to the city even without a passenger.

‘After taking passengers out of the city, and if I’m within a reasonable distance, I will go back to the city to pick up more passengers,’ said the 61-year-old ComfortDelGro cabby of 16 years.

The increase in the city surcharge from $1 to $3, announced by ComfortDelGro yesterday, along with other fare increases, will relieve the ‘pinch’ cabbies like Mr Mohamad have felt in recent months.

Cabbies interviewed said rising diesel costs and goods and services tax (GST) have increased their operating costs by 10 to 15 per cent.

To make up the difference, most drivers like Mr Mohamad have to clock an extra hour on the road. He now puts in 12 hours a day, six days a week, to take home about $80 a day after splitting the $100 daily rental with relief drivers.

‘The new fares will increase our income by a bit and help us with rising costs,’ he said.

ComfortDelGro said that after last year’s fare revision, cabbies took home about 12 per cent more.

Mr Robin Ng, president of the CityCab Operators’ Association, said the move to absorb Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges of drivers who cannot find a fare within 15 minutes of entering the city area will definitely help. ‘ERP charges are getting higher these days. It does not make sense for drivers to pay the ERP charge just to go into town to get a customer when they can get one outside without paying a cent.’

His views were shared by other organisations. The Taxi Operators’ Association (TOA) said yesterday in a statement that ComfortDelGro’s revision was a ‘fair and timely decision’.

‘TOA believes that overall taxi meter fare should reflect the operating cost of the taxi business, and the primary consideration is the income stability of the taxi drivers when fare adjustments are made,’ said the association, which represents six taxi operators’ associations.

Taxi drivers reckon the volume of passengers will decrease in the next few months but are not concerned about the long-term effect.

‘The demand drop will be short-term…I’m more concerned about the company than the commuters. Usually, when the company increases fares, it will raise rentals or take away other perks. I hope that doesn’t happen,’ said Mr L.S. Chew, 47, a cabby of 11 years.

ComfortDelGro indicated yesterday that it will not raise rentals following this fare adjustment.

It added that diesel subsidies and other benefits, which amounted to $73 million last year, will continue this year.

mariaa@sph.com.sg

I do find it interesting on how the papers or taxi companies commented that there is very little reason for taxi drivers to hide just before midnight. Going by any sense of economics, all it takes is just to hide behind some pillars (metaphorically) and taxi drivers will be able to get 10% more from their midnight surcharge.

However, this will only work if all taxi drivers are doing the same thing. Since this had already been practiced previously, it isn’t difficult to continue doing it. If you ask me whether this hike will solve the disappearing midnight problem, I’d say, there’s no direct effect. As long as there is an incentive to wait till past midnight, drivers will do it - just like how some of us will wait till past 9:30am just to avoid the $2.00 surcharge.

What I feel about the whole thing is:

• There may be slightly more taxis in the beginning - partly because of the refund that the taxi drivers get from their taxi companies if they do not secure a passenger within 15 minutes of entering the city.
• However, I feel that the taxi companies will eventually get back the money from the drivers by raising rental. After all, there is no free lunch in the world, at least not in Singapore
• Passengers will get used to the new flag down rate and the problem will start all over again
• Remember the time when the taxi fare was raised from $2.40 to $2.50 and many people swore off taxis? Look at what’s happening now. It’s just as crowded.
• It does not solve the disappearing cabs before midnight problem, since the hike does not seem to address this directly
• Rather, it seems to address the disappear cabs in the city problem

Despite all these hikes, the papers managed to find someone who is optimistic about the whole thing; people that will press on to take cabs despite the hike and all - with some feeling that it’s good that the taxi drivers will be able to earn more:

COMMUTERS, for the lowest taxi fares in town, look out for a copper-coloured Prime cab, at least for the next three months.

But be prepared for a long wait, as the company, which has said it will not raise fares for the time being, has only 100 taxis on the road - the smallest fleet here.

Most of the other companies said they would follow ComfortDelGro’s lead, so commuters should be prepared to pay between 18 per cent and 49 per cent more when hailing a cab during peak hours from Monday.

But the increase is unlikely to deter commuters from hopping into a cab. A poll of 20 commuters at Orchard Road yesterday found no one saying they would stop taking taxis because of the higher fares.

Half of them, including Ms Lili Yeo, a research writer with a finance company, said they would make changes, like take a train out of the city centre and then a cab for the rest of the journey to avoid some of the new peak-hour and city surcharges.

For the rest, taxis are and will remain an option only if they are late or caught in the rain.

Some raised concerns about whether, with the changes in the late-night surcharges, taxis will start to ‘disappear’ again just before midnight.

ComfortDelGro does not expect this to happen, given that the city area surcharge will be in force right till midnight, giving taxi drivers in the city little reason to ‘hide’.

One commuter said the higher fares are understandable as ‘at least taxi drivers will be able to earn more’.

Others, like Ms Angela Chan who gets around exclusively on taxis now, says she will plan her journeys better, but will not give up the rides.

The pastor takes a taxi every day from her home in MacPherson to her office in Chai Chee, a trip that costs her an average of $10. When the new price plan kicks in on Monday, she can expect to pay up to $11 for the same trip.

‘It’s money I’m willing to spend, because time is precious and it’s more convenient than a bus.’

Taking the MRT is often not a practical option, she explained, as she requires two bus transfers, and an extra 20 minutes, before she can get to the Aljunied MRT station, the closest one.

‘It’s erratic and unpredictable, and I waste quite a bit of time.’

While higher fares are unlikely to stop her from hailing a cab, she said she would consider making shorter trips, and then transferring to the MRT instead of travelling in a taxi for the entire journey. ‘I will definitely reconsider taking long trips in a cab,’ said Ms Chan.

Businesswoman Elena Ling said: ‘It’s not a drastic increase for those who can afford it.’

Her only concern: ‘What about the sick or elderly who need to take a taxi and can’t afford it?’

taniat@sph.com.sg

Articles obtained from straitstimes.com on 11th December 2007

Well, how often do you get a diarrhoea anyway? Not too often, right? Unless of course you had been eating Prima Deli cakes - although I really sympathise with the people who got poisoned, it really wasn’t any fault of theirs. Of course, then you might ask - who are those who get diarrhoea of their own fault anyway?

Well… how about people who take cockles? Nope, it’s not their fault, but I guess most people should know of the apparent high risk that comes with how unhygienic the origins of cockles can be… but that’s story for another day.

The United States saw at least 3 shootings (there may be more that are not reported) within 1 week - one involving a highly low esteem person who felt that he was a burden to everyone around him, while the latest 2 (both on 10th December 2007) happened at 2 different churches. The motives of the latter were not known, neither were any connections.

For the short duration that I was in New York some eons ago, police chase were as common the hello kitty craze - you get it now and then, and sometimes there were a whole bunch of them. I remembered that when I was staying a Brooklyn campus hostel, not only were shootings common, but robberies as well. Of course, this is the exception rather than the norm, but it was frequent enough to make me wonder where I should really go to if I should migrate to the States one day? Is the shootings a result of the relaxation of rules on arms ownership?

Well, seriously, I am not sure; but what I do feel is that it’d impractical to ban arms ownership altogether because they can at least trace who owns what, but should they ban it altogether, then:

1. they’d have a tough time finding out the origins of the arms
2. it’d be hard to convince everyone to give up their arms all at the same time - after all, who knows if someone else had them on their hit list

A lot of things can be done through regulation, instead of slapping a flat ban on it. In Singapore, the use of Morphine is regulated (and restricted to medical use - and it’s really good - the morphine, I mean), prostitution is regulated (as opposed to making it illegal outright - then we’d have a problem of tracing infections, from a pragmatic perspective), and gambling is regulated (although there are still underground ones). Not to mention that slapping a ban on everything will create an uproar eventually - although I don’t see anyone protesting strongly with the chewing gum ban, partly because everyone who wanted one will get it from our neighbour across the causeway.

Speaking of which, how about banning smoking altogether? When the rule was implemented to ban smoking at the bus stop, people literally stood outside the shelter to smoke. Damn. I need to get all their photographs one day and paste it all over the Net.

Anyway, back to the shootings. Of course the recent shootings could have been a one off thing - and there really isn’t anything to be alarmed about. Some people will just think that the deaths is just a statistic, but have you thought about what happens if it happened to be you? I’m not saying that anything should be done immediately with regards to arms ownership due to these recent incidents - after all, ownership was allowed for its own reasons (I need someone to fill me up on this) and I am in no position to question it.

However, with freedom comes a price. For Singaporeans who are still thinking the American dream - there are way more things that freedom can give - and some of these may not be expected. If you decide to move to somewhere, remember to always do your homework first. Just like what my biology lecturer told me: There’s a chance that something might happen, but if it happens to you, it’s always 100%.

DENVER (Colorado) - AT least four people were shot at a large Colorado evangelical church on Sunday - the second shooting in a day linked to a religious community in the state.

Local media said four, or possibly more, people were shot outside or inside the New Life Church in Colorado Springs on Sunday afternoon. The condition of those shot was not immediately known, but police said they had a suspect in custody.

In an earlier incident, two people were killed and two were injured shortly after midnight when a gunman entered a training centre for young missionaries in the Denver suburb of Arvada, about 110km away from Colorado Springs, police said.

It was not immediately known if the two shootings were connected. CNN reported that the description of the shooter was similar in both cases - a white male wearing a dark hat and dark jacket.

The New Life Church, which has about 14,000 members, was founded by pastor Ted Haggard, who resigned in disgrace in 2006 after admitting to sexually immoral conduct.

Colorado Springs TV station NewsChannel 13 said police scanner traffic indicated there were multiple victims at the New Life Church. It said many people were apparently hiding throughout the vast church building.

Police cordoned off the church and appeared to be still looking for the shooter.

Colorado Springs Police Lieutenant Fletcher Howard told CNN police had a suspect in custody, but that the motive for the shooting was not yet known. He said he could not confirm any fatalities from the shootings.

New Life Church associate pastor Rob Brendle said: ‘It’s been a dramatic day and we are participating with the police investigation right now but we are not at liberty to make a comment right now … a statement will be issued at 3.30pm mountain time (6.30am Singapore time).’

In Arvada, two youth missionary staff members were shot and killed by a young man who came to the door of the Youth With a Mission dormitory asking for a place to stay, the group said in a statement.

When he was told he could not be accommodated there, he pulled out a handgun and opened fire. Two other staffers, who were cleaning up after a Christmas party, were wounded before the gunman ran away.

The Mission is an international and interdenominational organisation that trains young people to work as missionaries.

‘Please pray for the families who are on their way to Denver for the critically injured young man undergoing surgery today for the staff and students who have been evacuated to another location for the apprehension of the gunman who fled the scene,’ Mission spokesman Paul Filidis said in a statement. — REUTERS

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 10th December 2007

Barely hours after I did my post on rude angmos, I witnessed for myself another uproar. Alright, I am exaggerating again, but what happened was a good example of how fragile the racial harmony in Singapore is.

Apparently, there was a Starbucks staff who was clearing the tables and while she was walking past a PRC customer, the latter threw a tissue into the tray that the staff was carrying. By any standards, that was rude. Yet the PRC didn’t think that there was anything wrong.

The staff was obviously very angry and she asked in a rather loud voice for the customer not to litter the place. Feeling indignant, the customer argued back in somewhat broken English something that I couldn’t get. In the end, the customer asked the staff to "go on" or "move on", or "be dismissed" or in Mandarin, 退下. For those who are not familiar with the Chinese language, it’s like the Emperor asking the subject to dismiss himself. It’s rather derogatory if you ask me.

In the end, a Singapore Chinese had to approach the Chinese customer to find out what went wrong. Perhaps the PRC customer really didn’t find anything to throwing a litter into the tray that the staff was carrying, but it is this kind of misunderstandings that can break the racial harmony and equilibrium that we are enjoying.

With a higher influx of foreign talents, and with the Singapore government encouraging more foreigners to come in, it may be inevitable for such things to happen - and tolerance of each other’s culture does not happen overnight. Already, a lot of Singaporeans are displeased with foreign talent "taking over" their jobs, how bad can it get if they bring along their own culture and assume that the locals will be able to adapt to it, or that the locals can accept it?

After all, isn’t it that when in Rome, we do what the Romans do?

STEP into the toy department of Isetan Scotts and chances are you will be served by Zhang Jia Le from north-eastern China.

The cheerful 20-year-old quit his studies, borrowed $7,000 from relatives and came to Singapore to work three months ago.

The Ji Lin native who said he lost interest in studying, remarked: ‘The environment here is better and we learn how to handle and sell many different kinds of products.’

He is among a growing number of front-line China workers in the service industry.

Mainland Chinese are making their presence felt not only in foodcourts and hawker centres but also in shopping malls, supermarkets and petrol stations.

Employers like these workers because they are hard-working and are willing to take jobs shunned by Singaporeans.

But the reception from others has been less than warm. In the past two weeks, four people have written to the Forum page of The Straits Times commenting on the ubiquitous China worker.

The letter writers said these workers are taking jobs away from Singaporeans and questioned their suitability, saying that many do not speak English.

One exasperated reader, Mr Murali Sharma, described how he could not get a glass of warm water from a waitress from China at a wedding banquet.

The 71-year-old retiree said: ‘I can’t speak Mandarin and she couldn’t speak English. It was so frustrating.’

The Sunday Times visited 23 coffee shops and foodcourts in the past week and found China workers serving in at least eight eateries. At a coffee shop in Braddell, up to 10 of the 25 employees were China nationals.

Their vocabulary is typically restricted to job-related terms but sometimes it is not even sufficient for work.

Ms Sharidah Zaitun, 47, a part-time editor, has had frustrating encounters with service staff from China at food centres and shops who cannot understand her.

She said: ‘Singapore has an international community and speaking English is a must.’

Even some Chinese Singaporeans have problems. Not all can speak Mandarin and they get by using dialects such as Hokkien or pasar Malay in hawker centres.

Mrs Maggie Goh, 61, a retiree who speaks only Hokkien and English, said she has resorted to pointing to items on the menus in restaurants.

Just on Friday, she was served by a waiter from China at a restaurant in Parkway Parade who could not understand English. ‘He kept speaking in Mandarin even though I spoke to him in English. I ended up pointing to items on the menu. It was a struggle,’ she said.

Expats in particular are having difficulty with the language barrier.

A Filipina accounts manager, Denise Iroy, 31, recounted how she once spent 15 minutes trying to explain to a salesman from China that she wanted to buy an adaptor.

‘I tried to speak slowly but he still could not understand me. In the end, the manager had to come and assist me.’

Employers and labour agents said the influx of China workers came after rules were relaxed to allow them to work in the service industry.

They said service-sector companies can now hire work permit holders for up to 45 per cent of their total workforce with China workers making up 5 per cent of that.

The Manpower Ministry could not say how many China workers are in the service industry but interviews with labour agents suggest that demand is hotting up.

Agent Zen Tan said that from July to December, his agency supplied about 3,600 China workers to companies in the service sector. This month alone, demand has gone up by 20 per cent.

He said: ‘A lot of these jobs require long hours and Singaporeans do not want to take them.’

Mr K.H. Hong, who owns a chain of 10 coffee shops islandwide, said he hires China workers because they are ‘hard-working, willing to work overtime and eager to learn’.

It also does not hurt that a China worker’s pay is $1,000, about 10 per cent lower than what a Singaporean or Malaysian earns - because he is usually inexperienced. Mr Hong has about 40 China workers in all.

Ms Shereen Leong, senior human resource executive of foodcourt operator Koufu, which has 21 outlets, said local workers are scarce in the tight labour market. The company has 29 China workers out of its pool of 503 workers.

One such person is Wu Ye Li, who has been manning the dessert stall at Koufu’s Toa Payoh outlet for two years.

The 34-year-old started out serving customers but has since learnt to prepare all 15 items on the menu.

She works 12 hours a day, gets two days off a month and earns $1,000 monthly.

She admitted that the first months at work were frustrating because she could not understand her customers’ orders.

‘Language was a problem, the Singapore slang is different and I knew little English,’ she said. But now, she can speak simple English to her customers.

Ms Julia Tay, deputy human resource manager of Isetan, hired four China workers in the past four months after interviewing them via webcam.

She thinks that they would be more committed to their jobs because of the large sums they’ve paid labour agents to hook them up with jobs in Singapore. The amount can be as high as $8,000.

She said: ‘Though having a basic command of English is important, the willingness to learn is more important.’

The China workers are paid the same amount as the other workers - $1,100 a month. The company does not give them English language lessons.

The store, which has 600 retail assistants, plans to place up to three China workers in each of its four branches.

Bata Singapore, which employs 11 China nationals as sales staff, tackles the language problem by enrolling them in a week-long basic English course.

Ms Corrine Goh, manager of the Peninsula Plaza branch, which has two China workers, said the company preferred to hire China nationals over English-speaking Filipinos because they are cheaper.

China nationals get $1,000 a month compared to $1,500 to $1,800 for Filipinos.

She said: ‘Of course language can be a problem, but the workers try their best. We hire them based on how much they are willing to learn and how far we think they can go.’ She said that there have been no customer complaints.

While some customers may be unhappy with the China workers’ weak grasp of English, employers said the situation is not likely to change given the tight labour market and Singaporeans’ reluctance to work in the service industry.

Mr Hong Poh Heng, chairman of the Foochow Coffee Restaurant and Bar Merchants Association, said: ‘They are cheap to hire and unlike Singaporeans, are willing to work long hours and on public holidays to pay back their loans.’

But 24-year-old undergraduate Rebecca Norfor has this piece of advice for employers who seem to downplay the importance of language in good service.

‘If I have to tear my hair out to communicate, I will take my business elsewhere.’

mavistoh@sph.com.sg

shulis@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 9th December 2007