Transport season passes discontinued: Why?

We refer to the article “EZ-Link to discontinue Season Passes from the start of 2015” (Channel NewsAsia, Oct 29).

No more season passes?

It states that “Season Passes can only be used until the end of the year, EZ-Link Pte Ltd announced on Wednesday (Oct 29)”.

No reasons given?

Why is it that no reasons have been given for the discontinuance of season passes?

When season passes were introduced recently – it was a major policy change to help lower public transport costs for commuters.

Also, one of the reasons given for the increase in fares last year, was that the introduction of various season passes would mitigate the fare increase for some commuters.

Only major city without season pass?

Now that it will be discontinued – it sets Singapore back to be possibly the only major city in a developing or developed to not have season passes.

Silence from PTC and MOT?

Why is the Public Transport Council (PTC) and the Ministry of Transport silent on this announcement?

Without season passes, our transport fares may be one of the highest in the world.

Other cities’ fares higher: Really?

In this connection, if you look at the fare comparison with other cities, in the Fare Review mechanism Committee (FRMC) 2013 report – the Average Bus Fares (PPP Adjusted) in all the cities mentioned were much higher than Singapore – Hong Kong ($1.20), London ($0.89), New York ($1.24) and Tokyo ($1.59).

For Rail Fares, it was $1.65, $2.65, $1.54 and $1.29, respectively.

Fares higher than other developed cities?

The rhetoric and argument over the years to justify fare increases was that Singapore’s per trip fares are much cheaper than the per trip fares in other developed cities. This may be a flawed argument, because hardly anyone who uses public transport pays per trip fares, in these cities. They use annual, 6-monthly or monthly unlimited multimodal passes.

Hong Kong monthly pass from S$60+? 

In Hong Kong, an adult can pay just HKD360 (S$60) to 565 (S$92) for a monthly pass extra for unlimited travel on designated lines plus a 25% discount on other travel. So, people in Kong Kong can pay as little as S$60 plus, especially for the poor who can try to limit their travel to within the designated lines.

This is as much as about 60+% cheaper than Singapore’s monthly unlimited travel pass at $190 (now discontinued), and arguably cheaper than what an average Singaporean spends on public transport.

Tokyo – $162?

In Tokyo, we understand that an adult can pay 80,000 yen (S$974) for a 6 months pass which is $162 monthly.

New York – $141?

Another example is New York which has a 30-day pass for US$112 (S$141 a month).

Most expensive London – from $209? 

Even the most expensive annual pass that we can find – London (zone 1) is S$209 a month (annual pass 1,216 pounds (S$2,506)).

60 to 15% cheaper after adjusting for PPP?

However, after adjusting for PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) using the same PPP in the FRMC report, the cost for monthly passes in Hong Kong, London, New York and Tokyo, becomes S$72 plus, S$162, S$116 and S$100 respectively.

This makes them about 60, 15, 39 and 47% cheaper than Singapore’s S$190 (now discontinued).

Sweden $80 to $132?

Now that we have analysed the 4 cities cited in the FRMC report on a PPP adjusted basis, let us move on to some other cities without PPP (because we only have the PPP used in the FRMC report for the above 4 cities)