SMRT

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#71
(31-10-2011, 01:02 PM)yeokiwi Wrote: The rental business is, at the same time, capping the increase in fare charges. With better rental business, the public will expect SMRT to slow down its fare increase.

Good for commuters but bad for shareholders.

Yes, you hit the nail. That is why I say maybe SMRT should consider listing its non fare businesses. It is hard for the public to accept an increase in trains and bus fare to offset cost pressure when the group as a whole is still highly profitable, although contribution from trains and buses are declining.
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#72
(31-10-2011, 11:51 AM)Ben Wrote: Net profit for SMRT 2Q'12 dropped by 25.6%, despite recording higher revenue. Operating costs, especially energy cost and staff related is eating away its profit. However, a close look at its financials and you will notice that its operating profit from non-fare segment is now more than its operating profit from fare segment. Op profit from fare segment is $20.1M versus non fare segment of 21.6M. Rental is the star performance with revenue up 7.3% and op profit up a at even higher 8.7%. Op profit margin remains strong at 79.6%. With more stations opening up in coming months, rental will continue to contribute positively to the group.

The 1% fare adjustment will take effect from 8 Oct, and so will improve the fare revenue and its profit from Q3'12 onwards. But the increasing op costs will continue to impact the group.

It is obvious that SMRT has a much free hand in increasing its rental charges than increasing fare charges. With non fare business now contributing more profit to the group, maybe someday they should consider listing its non fare business separately. This way, I believe more value can be unlocked from the group.

hi Ben,
Good catch. i imagine the rental amount is pegged to the people traffic. Besides increasing rental, SMRT is also maximising rental space by refurnishing empty plots of land around the stations into shops. The latest example is at Woodlands MRT where 'Woodlands Xchange' is been built. In addition, i realize they are also kick starting this SMRTMedia thing (if you happen to take public transport like i do, u will notice flat screen TVs at even the heartland MRT stations now)

On another note, i am pretty surprised that they did not mention that non fare profit has exceeded fare profit. I can imagine many Mgt will use this to gloss over a 25% drop in net profit, and make themselves look 'less worst off'...Maybe after angering the majority of sporeans who take public transport with stellar profits, they reckon they might be better off by been looking poorer off?

(vested)
(31-10-2011, 01:02 PM)yeokiwi Wrote: The rental business is, at the same time, capping the increase in fare charges. With better rental business, the public will expect SMRT to slow down its fare increase.

Good for commuters but bad for shareholders.

hi yeokiwi,
i dont necessarily agree with your statement in bold. In exchange for its monopoly, the necessary evil of having capped fare charges has to be accepted. I see the rental business as a means to smoothen against the impact of operating costs (like electricity which is very volatile) and also participate in any upside when the economy is good.
Nonetheless, if the rental biz becomes so profitable 1 day that the public starts to demand a fare decrease, then you will be right! Confused
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#73
This is really, really serious - I wonder how SMRT will restore confidence..... Huh

Business Times - 17 Dec 2011

The Circle tightens around SMRT boss


Minister expresses concern over way incident was handled; after spate of disruptions, some ask if problem is systemic

By JOYCE HOOI

THIS year has been SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa's annus horribilis and it might also be her last. Resignation has suddenly become an option for Ms Saw, after the worst train breakdown in the firm's 24 years of operations happened on her watch, on Thursday night.

When asked yesterday at a press conference if she would resign, Ms Saw said: 'It's something I would seriously consider if it is necessary to do so, but I think I will reserve comment at this moment.'

Ms Saw apologised for the five-hour breakdown on the North-South Line that left 127,000 commuters stranded, including the 4,000 that were stuck in train carriages with little or no ventilation.

This comes on the back of the 40-minute breakdown on the Circle Line, which caused a six-hour disruption to the full service, squarely in the middle of the morning rush period on Wednesday.

When asked about the likelihood of Ms Saw stepping down, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said: 'The important thing to us is to hold the SMRT board and management responsible and to deliver the commitments that they have made.'

He was speaking to reporters at Changi Airport last night, after returning from the Asean Transport Ministers' meeting in Phnom Penh. 'I was very disappointed with how this was handled, especially for the commuters that were in the affected trains.'

Calling Thursday night's disruption 'immensely serious', Mr Lui added that he had spoken to SMRT chairman Koh Yong Guan yesterday afternoon to 'reiterate the government's concern over the incident and how it was handled'.

Some wanted to move on from the incident. 'Singaporeans should just let go,' said housewife Kylie-Lee Wearnes.

If there is any sympathy for Ms Saw, there is certainly very little for the corporation itself, which has seen a chain of service disruptions and two major security breaches in recent years.

On two separate occasions, SMRT's train depots were broken into, and its train carriages vandalised. In September, a four-hour disruption on the Circle Line was blamed on a faulty cable.

The woes of the Circle Line have been especially difficult for transport specialists to swallow, given how new it is. Referring to SMRT's statement on Wednesday about the 'communication network problem' that had not yet been fixed, associate professor Lee Der Horng of the National University of Singapore said: 'This, I can only say, is very disappointing. (The Circle Line) is brand-new . . . and this can still happen. I believe that before they opened, they worked with regulators to do the checking and testing.'

On Thursday night, Mr Lui said on Facebook: 'I do not know if these are isolated incidents or whether there are systemic and more serious underlying issues causing these breakdowns.'

He added yesterday that a team of specialists will be assembled by next week for a 'thorough review' of the transport system.

Anthony Chin, an associate professor of transport economics at NUS, told BT: 'The Circle Line took 10 years to complete - 10 years is enough time to test the system. If it's a systemic problem, then we're in for a lot of trouble.'

Where the 24-year-old North-South Line is concerned, Prof Lee - who is a transport researcher - was willing to concede that it might have been an issue of age. SMRT had attributed Thursday night's breakdown to a 'power rail problem'.

'It's possible as time goes by, the power rail may have some additional wear-and-tear. If this is the reason, it cannot be used as an excuse. The increased train service frequency doesn't mean we should have to compromise on service reliability. They should also intensify the maintenance,' he said.

Three years ago, the company made history with a record-breaking fine - $387,176 - when the East-West Line experienced a seven-hour disruption. This affected 57,000 rush-hour commuters - less than half the number stranded on Thursday night.

While a fine of a similar size will not be material to SMRT, which took in $161 million in net profit for its last financial year, some transport analysts are expecting a new record-breaking fine.

Under the Rapid Transit Systems Act, the LTA can fine rail operators up to $1 million if service disruptions are found to be caused by negligence.

'The fine for this one has to be more. (LTA) also has to take into consideration public sentiment at the moment,' a transport analyst told BT.

'I am more concerned about the infrastructure at this point - whether they need to make a massive overhaul. The refunds to passengers and the cost of the broken window will be minute compared to SMRT's earnings.'

The window the analyst was referring to was broken by a marine insurance professional who had been among the thousands stuck in trains for almost one hour on Thursday night.

Even as SMRT tallies up the total cost, economists believe that the emotional and social costs borne by the passengers affected are bound to be hefty.

It's traumatic for a lot of people who had to walk in the tunnel, especially young children, and this will form their reference point about public transport.

This latest series of public transport snafus has come at an inopportune time, on the heels of an unpopular cab fare hike and in the wake of a Chinese national bus driver getting lost for two hours after being diverted from his route.

While the quality of service standards for bus operators have been tightened over the last few years, there has been no change to the financial penalties imposed since implementation in 2007.

'Cab fares have just been raised and (the disruptions) happen,' said Vishnu Varathan, economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank. '(The average commuter) will say, 'Why am I hemmed in?' And we will attribute it to all kinds of things - our policy on foreigners, on how we regulate public transport and then you get pretty miserable, thinking about these things.

'Maybe you can't argue that the breakdown was due to more (foreigners). That's a bit spurious. But you can argue that the fact that people have to miss three trains and we're seeing packed trains - that is something, though.'

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#74
I wonder why my house next to mrt track so quiet. Check the Internet and this is it:
SINGAPORE: SMRT said southbound train services from Toa Payoh to Marina Bay stations were disrupted Saturday morning -- two days after a major glitch affected 127,000 passengers on Thursday evening.
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#75
SMRT really can't make it.....
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#76
Yes. Once upon a time, it used to be a nice and good transport. Not so fast, but steady and comfortable.

Now with the sudden increase in population, it has to make more train trips.

It has to packed its commuters like sardines. It is definitely overloaded.

SMRT do take care, if you are strong and healthy, then you can take care of the safety of your commuters.

You can make it !

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#77
Maybe they need to raise fares to upgrade their system. this will be the ultimate irony!
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#78
for years, SMRT has been making good profit by its lapses if that's the case. It is time for pay back.

If MRT is upgraded by raising fare, it signals that SMRT has done nothing wrong before and commuters are punished.

SMRT is supposed to use part of its profit to keep a good public transport service. If they can't make it, change the operator of EW, NS & CC lines.
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#79
My biggest complaint is the way they handled this breakdown.

I was in town on Friday. At 7pm, I wanted to take a train from City Hall to Dhoby Gaut as I was bring my family to attend an event at 7:30pm. There was no signs of any breakdown but at the platform, I was surprised to see the huge queue for the Dhoby Gaut direction whereas the Marina Bay direction was ok. On the Display screen, it says the next train will come in 4mins, but it says 'Do Not Board'. Sensing something was wrong, I quickly left the station and walked to my destination instead.

Looking back, the train disruption must have already started, but the City Hall station staff had either not yet been informed or they didn't know what to do. Instead, the after office crowd continued to stream into the station and created a huge chaos situation.

After my event at 10pm++, I went to Dhoby Gaut station. I wasn't aware of the major train disruption service as I'd thought the huge crowd at City Hall earlier was the usual After Office crowd (I seldom take trains in town area during rush hours).

It was downright confusing at Dhoby Gaut station. There were a lot of signs and notices of back-up bus services everywhere. But, I couldn't make any sense of what's happening. As Dhoby Gaut is also a major interchange, it runs the N-S, N-E and Circle lines. I was trying to figure out if the breakdown affected all the lines but couldn't understand all their announcements. There were only a couple of staff around and I finally got to speak to one of them and realised I could still take a train towards the Marina Bay direction and change to go towards JE direction.

It was only later that I read the news and found out the breakdown only affected the Dhoby Gaut - Bishan direction.

The situation at Dhoby Gaut was terrible. It felt like a war zone, with armed Police patrolling around and commuters looking bewildered. The few number of staff, who were around were helpful and friendly enough when approached. But, I strongly feel that SMRT still have a very long way to go to improve on their disaster handling capabilities and procedures. It's not just a matter of activating the feeder buses and pasting notices / displays. They need to mobilise more staff and who are trained to handle and alleviate the situation. (At 10pm++, the breakdown had already happened for 3hrs++ and that's ample time to mobilise extra resources).

My take? Time to change the top mgmt, who'd gotten fat and complacent on their huge remuneration. If you read the news on the recent breakdowns and security breaches, it's not one of those one in 50 years kind of event, but rather, it's likely something more serious and very likely, we are going to see more of such problems in the near future. Angry
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#80
Running a mass transport system does not only entail ensuring the toilets are clean, which the ceo sees to it personally. There are also safety, security, contingency planning and 'operation during disasters' aspects of the business. It seems that these other aspects were not tackled sufficiently, which is puzzling since there is much attention to these aspects after the 911. Instead of crying over spilt milk for insufficient training and preparation over the past 9 years, hopefully there is now a much stronger resolve to tackled them moving forward. All system may fail one day. The smooth execution of operation during disaster is also important.

The authority should not act like a one-trick-horse which only know how to impose monetary penalties. In fact, the more instances of service lapses, the more money the authority will collect from penalties. So there is a conflict of interest. Channelling a portion of the penalties to help the poor pay for their transportation cost may soothe conscience but is beside the point. The highly paid bureaucrats must get their butts off the herman miller chairs and work out a better carrot-and-stick system.

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