Time for MOT and LTA to act against SMRT management

I started another petition to the Ministry of Transport and the Land Transport Authority against SMRT because the frequency of trains breakdowns is getting ridiculous and well, someone got to shout as those in-charge are pretty deaf.

"When the MRT has broken down more times than the number of years it has been operating, it is time for the Transport Minister to toughen up and hold the necessary parties accountable. He must take responsible for all the stress and inconvenience caused as well as the loss of time and money.

When the Hong Kong system broke down, their management took ownership of the problem, resolve the issue quickly and immediately offered their apologies and compensation to consumers. It is only right that we are given such transparency and resolution too.

It is time for the Ministry of Transport and the Land Transport Authority to act against the SMRT CEO and his management team. They must be penalised for their incompetence in providing sufficient resources to support maintenance and operation of their trains and tracks. Punishment has to meted out when rewards had been awarded in the past.

I hereby, am petitioning for the MOT/LTA to fine SMRT to compensate consumers in the form of free rides and reduce its CEO and management's salaries to pay for more staff to maintain the mass transit system."

 

Make public transport operators to be non-profit organisations

After the worst MRT breakdown in Singapore's history, I actually started a petition to the LTA to make public transport operators become non-profit organisations to serve the masses. You can sign the petition here. Below is the details of the petition:

"Granted that the North-South and East-West lines are in use for more than 20 years, train faults are bound to happen now and then. However, the frequency of the recent faults and delays happening is not acceptable. The scales of the incidents are also increasing with the most recent one affecting almost the whole of Singapore.

SMRT, being the operator of both lines, needs to be answerable to the consumers paying increasing fares, and taxpayers if government subsidies are granted. It should not be answering to shareholders or investors, which is the nature of a corporation earning profits that it is now. LTA, being the authority to look after our transportation needs, should not be able to only penalise the operators with just fines.

I think the LTA should dictate and monitor the operators in upgrading the infrastructure and increasing manpower for maintenance. This is possible when the operators are non-profit organisations. They will not have to maximise profits to pay dividends to shareholders or investors. Instead of paying high salaries and big bonuses to executives and managers, they will need to reinvest the revenue on upgrading and recruitment as well as rewarding the ground or frontline staff.

When it comes to public systems, corporatisation and privatisation is not the answer nor the way forward. If the employees of the public transport operators claim ownership or has a stake in the organisations, and that everyone share the benefits more or less at the same level, there will not be a need to have a complex structure/hierarchy and productivity can increase without substantial increase in costs."