Singapore Minister of Transport, Mr Lui Tuck Yew, had a "Show me the money" episode when he was quoted to say ""Any fare adjustment will allow the two operators to have more resources, in time to come, to make further salary adjustments to their drivers. We recognise that the drivers need to be paid more. (The) question is, where is that money coming from? "

This quote sparked speculation that public transport fare is set to rise again in 2013 though a fellow member of parliament blamed the media for creating an  "illusion" of this public transport fare increase.

Blog, Transitional Eternity, however pointed out that the money to raise wages of the drivers can come from within and not from the public.

The blogger, XuYun74, discovered through SMRT annual reports that the SMRT director fees cost the public transport operator $9.6million alone in 2011.

Wrote XuYun74, "By 2012, directors’ fees have grown to a whopping 970% in a span of 11 years. Contrasting the generosity of SMRT on its directors, the growth of staff costs (excluding directors) is a mere 67%."

XuYun74 also suggested that if SMRT took out $1million, either from the directors' fees or from the profits, which was at a whopping $119 million in fiscal year 2012, could help pay for the increase in wages for the bus drivers by $500 per annum. 

I hope our Transport Minister do visit XuYung74's blog at http://xuyun74.blogspot.sg/2012/12/mr-lui-tuck-yew-money-is-over-here.html to go through the well-detailed research on "where to get the money" to cater to the demand to increase bus drivers' wages.

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Mr Gan Thiam Poh, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, in his answer to a question posed by Mr Andrew Loh, editor-in-chief of Public House, highlighted that the Singapore media created an "illusion" that public transport fares will increase in 2013.



At the 6:25 mark, Andrew asked if the the media misreported the price increase. MP Gan replied that from the headlines he saw, the media has created an "illusion" of the price increase in 2013.

The headline from AsiaOne, one of the many online sites of Singapore Press Holdings, shouts "Bus fares may go up to help improve drivers' pay" by By Royston Sim And Maria Almenoar. In comparison, Channel NewsAsia titled "Public transport fare review to take into account bus drivers' wage increase" by Dylan Loh.

MP Gan clarified that the the Transport Minister, Mr Lui Tuck Yew, the drivers' wages component might be now considered as part of the formula for public transports fares.

On 18 May 2012, Cedric Foo, Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, when asked from the media if pay rise would mean increased fares, Mr Cedric Foo was quoted to say "I don't think there's a direct correlation between drivers' wages and bus fares."

This contradiction in the relationship between wages and the public transportation formula is a replay of when then Minister of Transport, Raymond Lim, said there was "no direct link between public transports fare and oil prices" in respond to a question on why transport fares did not decrease even when oil prices dropped.

Yet, the public transport companies continued to use oil prices as a reason for the need for the fare increase. In a press release on SBS Transit Website, a press release on September 2008 wrote that "the fare adjustment, which will yield $5.9 million for a full year, will only provide partial relief for the increased cost pressures the Company faces. Fuel and electricity costs rose by 64%, or $36.0 million, to $92.5 million in the first six months of this year".

If you listen to the video in its entirety, MP Gan highlighted the word "misunderstood" five times. Does this mean that there is some form of miscommunication between the government and the public because of bad reporting from the local gatekeepers at SPH?

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