Overhaul

And the public transport operators have the nerve to raise fares!!! It takes SMRT more than a month to overhaul an escalator! This signage has been on display at the overhead bridge connecting the town centre to the MRT station opposite since >3 weeks ago. It doesn't bother me that much, coz I'm still young and fit, but it's giving all the old folks a hard time. And causing a congestion at the staircase, which now has to cater to both pedestrians ascending and descending the bridge, during peak hours. So much for efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The PTC is obviously ignoring public sentiment by allowing raises for a second (or issit third?) consecutive year when the operators have been posting healthy and growing profits every year. Shareholder returns and commercial interests always seem to outweigh public interests, so I think we should all get shares in SMRT and SBSTransit so we get a share of the spoils to cover the fare increase.

And dare I say transport expenditure is not the only increase we're seeing in our everyday lives. There's the GST increase, which has given a lot of hawkers, merchants, and basically every other mama or papa shop an excuse to increase prices by >2%. Even a vanilla cone from McDonald's now costs 20% more...

All despite the government releasing statistics (the CPI index which many argue to be flawed) to say that the inflation rate is stable and the cost of living remains affordable, esp. compared to other first world countries like London, Tokyo, New York, etc. And I always wonder why we are always comparing ourselves to the most expensive cities in the world...

Well these things always seem to happen within one to three years after elections. Then when elections come by again, we start getting goodies, and fare increase applications are rejected (or maybe postponed). Just an unsupported observation, anyone's welcome to prove me wrong. I'm sure our government is doing a great job, but it's little things like these that irk some in the electorate.

Incidentally, I'm planning an overhaul for this blog, timed to coincide with my ORD. I haven't done anything yet, and the October schedule doesn't seem promising, but hopefully I'll be able to find time to do something about this mundane green page.