Debated in Parliament on 23 Feb 2015.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh askedthe Minister for Transport (a) what are the total and average amounts of subsidies given by the Government for public transportation for each Singaporean in the past five years; (b) how do such subsidies compare with those in all the major cities in the world; and (c) whether such subsidies can be sustained or increased without it being a burden to taxpayers.
Mdm Speaker, the Government subsidises public transportation through its funding of the infrastructure and start-up costs of the rail and bus network. These include the rail tracks and systems such as signalling and power systems, MRT and LRT stations, bus depots, ticketing systems and the first set of trains for new MRT lines. We have also been buying new trains to expand capacity and subsidising higher service levels for commuters under the Bus Service Enhancement Programme which would otherwise have required fares to increase by more than 15 cents per journey. In addition, the Government has started providing direct fare subsidy to lower wage workers and persons with disabilities since last year. In total, about $14 billion has been deployed to the public transport system over the past five years. Another $26 billion has been committed for the next five. This works out to close to $4 billion per year over 10 years.
It is not appropriate to compare the amount of subsidies between countries as there may be vast differences in ridership, income, service levels, coverage and operating costs. To the Singapore commuter, what is most pertinent is that our fares are affordable. The Government has committed to ensuring that this will remain so.
As Mr Gan rightly pointed out, while keeping fares affordable, it is also important to ensure that the burden on taxpayers does not become excessive. Thus, we will still need to review fares regularly and keep to a public transport system that we can sustain financially.
Page: 11
PAPERCUTS