SMRT

[orangetea]

A belated gesture of good customer service. It doesn't cost too much, but a good gesture of customer-care. One "rule" that always haunted me during MRT trip, is the baby-feeding on board. Does it still allowed on board, or need to go out to seek "help??" from station staff to do it?? (not vested) Trial lets commuters charge mobile devices at four MRT stations SINGAPORE — Train commuters will be able to charge their mobile devices for free at four stations — City Hall, Orchard, Tanjong Pagar and Kent Ridge — under a trial launched by SMRT over the next few weeks. Having charging points at its stations is one of the new initiatives rolled out by the rail operator to enhance commuters’ travel experience. The four stations were chosen for the trial due to their high traffic flow, with the first charging point installed at the free concourse area at City Hall MRT station late last week. “We would like to assure our commuters that even as we roll out these new service enhancement initiatives to improve commuter travel experience, we remain committed and focused on ensuring reliable train service through the procurement of new trains and ongoing asset renewal programmes,” said Mr Patrick Nathan, SMRT’s vice-president for corporate information and communications. ... http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/tri...t-stations

Breastfeed still must be out of the bounds of drinks and food restriction.

[Curiousparty]

From business point of view, all costs including cost of capital and any other costs such as penalty payment have to be recovered from fare. If it is not from fare , then it has to be from government via subsidy .

[orangetea]

Breastfeed still must be out of the bounds of drinks and food restriction.

Its listed here.
Well the have a clause to approach staff for assistance.

http://www.smrt.com.sg/RiderGuide/FAQ.aspx

[CityFarmer]

Breastfeed still must be out of the bounds of drinks and food restriction.

Its listed here.
Well the have a clause to approach staff for assistance.

http://www.smrt.com.sg/RiderGuide/FAQ.aspx

Yes, it is formally stated in FAQ, but it is not feasible to ask on-board commuters to alight, then approach station staff for baby feeding.

It is unique for Singapore MRT system, but not exist in other similar rail systems in the region, IIRC.

[Art or Science]

Yup, me think so too. Mayhap, its liberalise the regulation bah..

[specuvestor]

From business point of view, all costs including cost of capital and any other costs such as penalty payment have to be recovered from fare. If it is not from fare , then it has to be from government via subsidy .

As per what Ben remarked, based on your logic then the rail business should not be declining to $3m profit and buses lost $28m for FY14

[Curiousparty]

At a system level, based on full cost recovery principle, total cost of providing train/bus services = operating costs (e.g. O&M, manpower, penalty, shared services, IT costs, etc) + depreciation + tax + WACC x Asset base

What are the sources of income for PTOs?
a. Fare revenue (bus/rail)
b. Govt subsidy (implicit , e.g. funding the capex of operating assets)

We need to find out whether SMRT is making "economic deficit" or "real accounting deficit".

My point is any cost incurred by SMRT will eventually have to be recovered from consumers or govt (thru subsidy).

If it is thru subsidy, then it is tax payer money.

I do not know how you come out with that conclusion and I find it difficult to understand that conclusion. SMRT fare business has been deteriorating years after years, mainly because they are not able to recover the cost incurred, be it from customers or govt. If they have difficulties even to recover normal business running costs, what makes you think they can recover such penalty costs?

I hope SMRT has learnt all these lessons and avoid such costly mistakes in the future, for the good of both the passengers and the company. I have confidence that this management team, led by Desmond Kuek, is able to do a better job than the previous team.

[CityFarmer]

A penalty will be imposed again, and the amount will depend on the root cause...

(not vested)

Train fault causes 40min delay on North-South Line

SINGAPORE — A train fault at Novena station caused a delay on the North-South Line this morning (July 23).

In a tweet posted at about 9.10am, train operator SMRT said commuters will need an estimated 20 minutes additional travelling time from Toa Payoh to Newton station. Six minutes later, it posted another tweet advising of an additional 40 minutes travelling time for commuters.

SMRT also tweeted that free bus services are available at Toa Payoh station towards Newton.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/tra...south-line

[egghead]

At a system level, based on full cost recovery principle, total cost of providing train/bus services = operating costs (e.g. O&M, manpower, penalty, shared services, IT costs, etc) + depreciation + tax + WACC x Asset base

What are the sources of income for PTOs?
a. Fare revenue (bus/rail)
b. Govt subsidy (implicit , e.g. funding the capex of operating assets)

We need to find out whether SMRT is making "economic deficit" or "real accounting deficit".

I don't know what is system level; and the difference between economic and accounting deficit.

What I do know is that your line of reasoning is like saying due to the recent GM recall, the price of GM vehicles must be adjusted upwards to recover the costs of the recall from the GM customers.

[muns]

SMRT rail operations have been caught in a catch-22 over the past years, with increasing expenses and also forced by the need to inject capex to upgrade the rails against a "fare ceiling" (Takes a long time to approve) that doesn't really rise with the expenditures. This resulted in the new "Rail Financing Framework" so that SMRT would become a pure play operator only. But from a report from The Edge, seems like the details are not so easy to implement also, might take some time because both LTA and SMRT cannot seem to decide on the valuation of the assets to transfer over!

Putting the cart before the horse of focusing on the retail side might have stemmed from the situation where they couldn't sustain the increasing operation cost. But IMO the horse should be in front of the horse, especially for such a business! But we may have to accept the fact that if we want better services, one has to pay for it haha no matter what business is it, we can't expect costs to stay the same.

This issue should have been settled long before. But at least something is happening now to try to solve this! All we can do is to see how it plays out hopefully for the better of both parties!
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