Sunday, September 03, 2006

Transport Hikes : Followups from CASE.

I had been trying to write a followup on the open letter to CASE on the subject of public transport hikes. I had receive some sort of reply from them a couple of weeks ago but I kept putting it off. Why? Simply because there is nothing to report.

Well, I shall not put up the correspondences in full due to privacy issues and frankly they are very boring indeed.

Let me put up at timeline of the events.

26 July 2006
I had sent my open letter to CASE, cc: PTC, Strait Times, Today and Newpaper as well as SMRT.

27 July 2006
I had recieved a prompt and polite acknowledgment from Consumer Relations Officer, Katherine Lee (Ms)of CASE.

06 August 2006
I sent CASE a polite reminder, asking for their stand.

10 August 2006
A more senior officer gave me the courtesy of a reply. In her email, Ang Yiying, Executive (Marketing & Communications) of CASE had refered me to PTC and went on to describe the council and its functions, which is almost totally taken word for word from the PTC website. She had very politely but plainly told me to appeal to PTC instead of CASE.

11 August 2006
Being thick skinned, I persisted. I asked why CASE had been so silent on this round of price hikes while they seems be very vocal and prompt on the proposed transport hikes in 2005. I further asked for CASE's stand in this round of transport hikes.

14 August 2006
Ms Ang don't have any answers to my first question but she did state CASE's stand in the matter. I would like to quote her directly in full here.
Our position is that the PTC is the appropriate independent body to deliberate and subsequently comment on the fare hike applications. As the PTC has got various independent representations, we believe that commuters' interests would be taken into account in their deliberations. We also expect the PTC to give its reasons for its decision subsequently when it reaches its conclusion.

We note that you are aware of the functions of the Public Transport Council and that you have sent your feedback to them. As the deliberation on the applications for fare adjustment is on going, we advise that you wait for PTC's announcement.

We hope this clarifies our position on the matter.
To summarise, CASE has no views other than the views (which are not announced as yet) of the PTC on the subject matter and urged me to share the same view as they do. I notice CASE have this unshakeable faith in the PTC, so much as that CASE's stand is totally dependant on the independent PTC's views. Whatever PTC decided is good, PTC is infallible.

I also find it a little strange why CASE had this sudden surge of faith in the PTC. Isn't the PTC just as independent and appropriate body in 2005? Moreover, she is telling as politely as she can, not to bother CASE further on this issue. Maybe their hands are tied or they are truthfully independently dependent on PTC.

For the benefit of the readers, I would put up a link to the members of Public Transport Council so that maybe you might see something that explains the confidence CASE had on them.

To be fair, CASE had been very prompt in replying. At the very least, they did bother to reply and state their stand, something which none of the other organisations I email did.

Lastly, I would like to apologise for the lateness of this update. In my defence, I am waiting in hope of a late reply and secondly there isn't really much to report.


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posted by wert | Sunday, September 03, 2006 | Email This!


3 Comments:

Blogger Whispers from the heart said...

Case has its origins from NTUC.

If you think NTUC will fight for workers, then CASE will fight for consumers.

Wed Sep 06, 10:33:00 AM 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The hikes will be as certain as the sun rises from the east every day. All appeals to stop them proceeding will only work if Lee Hsien Loong or Lee kuan Yew intervene. But such a likelihood of the Lees to do so is 0.00001%.That means that your luck is so good that you strike the Big Sweeps.

Wed Sep 06, 04:57:00 PM 2006  
Blogger ybother said...

Hi,

I came across your post and I share your opinion regarding the state of transportation in Singapore. The fact that only 20% of us are able to afford cars means that almost everyone has to depend on our world class public transportation. However I believe that hub model of transportation has been stagnant a few centuries and can be revolutionized and improved by using technology.

I have created Tagxe.com it is a cab Sharing website targeted specially for Singapore. Currently I am not sure if the Tagxe will be accepted by the masses. Nevertheless I am giving Cab Sharing a shot because I believe it can really help people save their valuable time.

Please do give a try by creating or finding a ride for your ride to work tomorrow. You could also post your comments at my blog post here.

I also just posted my idea and website on HardwareZone and got a lot of useful feedback and support from HWZ brother. You can read it here : http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=1706694&page=2&pp=30


Cheers,
Fellow Blogger, Ybother

http://www.ZhouWenhan.com - My Meta Contact Card
http://www.GetQuik.com – Restaurant Orders Made Easy
http://www.TodaysTen.com - My personal info blog
http://www.Tagxe.com- Ridesharing for SG

Sun Aug 26, 11:22:00 PM 2007  

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