Distance-Based Transport Fares

From July this year, the public transport fares will be adjusted to a totally distance-based fare system. It means that commuters pay the same price regardless of the number of transfers made (up to 5 transfers in 45 minutes). This will mean good news for 63% of the people, who make transfers daily. Since there is no “transfer penalty”, they will pay less. 34% of the commuters, mostly taking long single-trip buses, will pay more. It is definitely good to remove the transfer penalty, but should those who do not make transfers be penalised? I feel that the bus companies benefitting just because people must transfer is not very right. I support the new fare system, but I fell that the non-transferring commuters paying more could be settled better, especially as the world emerges from a recession.

Circle Line

Circle Line Stage 1 & 2 newly opened on 17^th April 2010. Since then, a new bridge bypassing the city has been created, linking Serangoon to Paya Lebar in just ten minutes, as well as many new stations in southeastern Singapore. It is definitely a good option for people travelling from the north to the east.

There are also future plans to make the Circle Line a “full circle”, by linking the Circle Line Extention at Marina Bay to Habourfront. By doing so, people travelling from the West Coast to the East Coast can take the Circle Line straight through the downtown area. Without this, commuters would have to take Circle Line to Harbourfront, then North-East Line to Dhoby Ghaut, then Circle Line again to the southeast. The 4km extention will no doubt save these commuters a lot of time.

However, the main reason for postponement is because it is unsure whether there will be enough people travelling between the southwest and southeast to make the extention cost-effective.