Transportation fares are not linked to diesel price. Really?
I am confuse. Sometimes It is really hard to understand what our extremely talented minsters are saying in their comments in the papers.
It wasn't too long ago that PTC allows the transport companies to raise the fares, citing higher electricity and diesel cost as the reason for the increase. With the drop in crude oil prices from the high of $120 to $40 per barrel, it is logical to think that public transport fares would drop too.
However today Raymond Lim, our talented transport minister states that fares are not directly linked to retail diesel price. I have no idea what he meant by that. Does he meant that there is no relationship, no correlation, not a significant, etc? Of course he knew that blur folks like me would not understand so he provide the following example,
"from 2007 to this year... oil prices went up 40 per cent, but fares went up just 0.7 per cent" [source]
As you all can see there is definitely not directly linked to diesel price. It is only 0.7 per cent (not sure how he calculate this but since he is a talent he can't be wrong) increase instead of 40%.
But since they are not linked, doesn't it make sense to revert all the fares prior to the increase. After all oil prices went down by more than 40%? Then again, apart from being squeezed like sardines in buses that come late, what would I know about public transport compared to the talented Raymond Lim.
I suspect that the reason why there is no direct link between fares and diesel prices is that our talented Raymond Lim might have some secret high technology that is powering the buses and trains. It might be nuclear power, solar panel on the buses' roof or even wind power. But I think the most like technoglogy is a generator that could transform fart coming from the mouthass into methane that can use to power our transport system.
Let me wow you guys further with his talents and expertises. Although people are asking for reduction in fares, he has the foresight to answer a question that nobody asked.
"About $1.2 billion just to get the buses and trains out. The money still must come from somewhere, right? It is about a 1.5 percentage point increase of your GST. So, now it is 7%. You want it to be free, do you want the GST to go up to 8.5% to run a completely free bus and train system?"
Aren't you amazed at what a good communicator he is and how he managed to get his point across? He is indeed one of those talents that Singapore can't do without.
