Let’s go travelling!

GOOD morning! Let’s go travelling! On both public and private transport!

First, if you’re not going anywhere and merely sitting in your car with the engine running and enjoying the air-con, remember you can get fined. What? You didn’t know? Bet you also didn’t know that the fine is going up from $70 to $100 from June and if you don’t pay up, the court can impose a fine of up to $5,000. How come? You’re arguing that you’re just waiting to pick up someone and not impeding traffic? It’s to save the environment, you nitwit! It’s a lesson that has been taught to 1,489 motorists who were fined in the first three months of this year.

Second, if you’re taking a taxi, remember to pay your fare and not run away. That’s because paying the fare will be cheaper than the fine you have to pay if you get caught. It’s going up from $100 to $200 from May 9 for first time offenders, and repeat dodgers will be fined $400, twice the amount now. Oh, and you still have to pay the fare. Last year, there were 240 cases of fare evasion, said the Public Transport Council.

Third, if you are more used to taking the bus, watch out for some new-look buses on the road from the end of May run by Tower Transit. It will roll out 26 bus services which will operate from Bukit Batok, Clementi, and Jurong East interchanges, terminating at Bedok, Marina Centre, Shenton Way, and Toa Payoh.

Okay, so you’re more of a train person. Well, the contracts to build the Amber and Bedok South MRT stations have been awarded. But don’t think about being able to hop on the east coast stretch of the Thomson-East Coast line till about 2024. You might also want to know that SMRT raked in a 20 per cent increase in profits which reached $109.3 million for the year ended March 31. Hold your horses! This is mainly from its non-rail business. Then again, maybe that’s why talks on getting the G to take over rail assets and giving out operating licences in the proposed rail financing scheme seem to be dragging. According to ST, the sticking point is the rental of retail space in train stations and advertising revenue on trains – they account for three-quarters of its operating profit. So how should the rail financing framework be structured to take these fat margins into account? And would SMRT still be able to see such good profits?

And finally, don’t be taken aback by some specially-uniformed and heavily-armed men you see patrolling public places. There’re part of the G’s move to harden up security here to ward off any terrorist attacks.

We were thinking of taking you to Bukit Batok and stopping there for a while to see the sights, but according to TODAY’s interview with 80 residents, even the local inhabitants don’t think much about the road shows by the People’s Action Party and the Singapore Democratic Party.  But in case you want to know what’s on offer, we’ll give you a short report later.

Have a good Saturday, the start of the May Day weekend! Whoopee!

 

Featured image from TMG file. 

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