A reminder of why you should vote for them - Aljunied MPs

"There would be a group who currently, the ones who are travelling single trips and shorter trips who are not benefiting, but we hope that if they review it say on a weekly travel pattern basis instead of looking at it on a per-trip basis ... look at it as a weekly travel pattern and sometimes also in terms of what is to come later on, more choices ... in due course, I am sure they will benefit as well."
-- Lim Hwee Hua, Second Minister for Transport and Finance


"Singaporeans' concern over immigration issues is understandable but they must avoid developing irrational fears toward new immigrants."
-- Lim Hwee Hua, Second Minister for Transport and Finance


"We will not introduce new cross-country services, because those are really legacies of the past. But we will review every (existing) one to see whether they need to be sustained."
-- Lim Hwee Hua, Second Minister for Transport and Finance


And here's the most interesting piece: Vote Zainul Abidin Rasheed Out Facebook group.

All will benefit from distance-based fare system. Eventually.

"There would be a group who currently, the ones who are travelling single trips and shorter trips who are not benefiting, but we hope that if they review it say on a weekly travel pattern basis instead of looking at it on a per-trip basis ... look at it as a weekly travel pattern and sometimes also in terms of what is to come later on, more choices ... in due course, I am sure they will benefit as well."
-- Lim Hwee Hua, Second Minister for Transport and Finance


Apparently the public has mistaken the goodwill of the authorities again. Apparently they must benefit from the new distance-based fare system. As advised by Ms Lim, if not per trip, then daily, or weekly, or monthly, or even yearly. If they still don't see their savings in one year, they should look at it in a long term perspective, like 10 years. Somewhere down the years, they must benefit. That is how far ahead the transport authority has looked and planned.

Still not convinced? Then take and swallow the second reason from Ms Lim. They are paying ahead for what is to come later, like more choices of trains and buses. So they will benefit. Eventually. Really.

Don't develop irrational fears towards those who steal your job!

Singaporeans' concern over immigration issues is understandable but they must avoid developing irrational fears toward new immigrants, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua said.

She said Singaporeans ought to prepare for, rather than resist, an increased willingness among people worldwide to travel and relocate.

-- Lim Hwee Hua, Second Minister for Transport


It is easy for her to say that when her job is not threatened by cheaper (and not necessary better) foreign professionals, her kids don't have to compete with other foreigners' kids just to get into schools, she doesn't have to try to out-bid the foreigners in HDB resale flats and she doesn't have to take the public transport with whole lot of other foreigners.

I think obsoleting long haul buses is a great idea, even though I don't take buses myself

"We will not introduce new cross-country services, because those are really legacies of the past. But we will review every (existing) one to see whether they need to be sustained."

Mrs Lim pointed out that as a bus journey gets longer, it becomes harder to accurately predict its arrival time. Small delays at each bus stop can snowball and lengthen the overall waiting time for passengers.

-- Lim Hwee Hua, Second Minister for Transport


This announcement came at the time when human congestion on MRT trains could not get worse. Interesting that Mrs Lim also pointed out that it is difficult to predict buses arrival time when the journey gets too long, though other countries have no such problem with their even longer haul cross-country services. One might wonder, when was the last time that she has taken public transport.