Public Transport Council

The Public Transport Council (Abbreviation: PTC; Chinese: 公共交通理事会, Pinyin: "Gōnggòng Jiāotōng Lǐshìhuì"; Malay: "Majlis Pengangkutan Awam") is an independent regulatory statutory board under the Ministry of Transport of Singapore, established on 14 August 1987 by the Public Transport Council Act of 1987. PTC regulates the public bus and rapid transit network in areas such as fares and service standards.

PTC is also authorised to issue and do amendments to bus service licences, and advises the Ministry of Transport on areas such as conditions on licensees and imposing of penalties on non-complying licensees. It regulates public land transport, differing in terms of roles from the statutory boards under MOT, which represent the mode of transport. PTC was established to develop an integrated public transport network, by assuring quality services and by surveying the fares suitable for the public.

The Council is responsible for setting up the Fuel Equalisation Fund, the Night Bus Scheme and the annual public transport fare regulations.

Controversy

As the public transport fare regulator, the Council has come under public scrutiny on various occasions when it approved fare hike proposals from public transport operators [http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2002/yax-292.htm] . It has also come under fire through some policies deemed as pro-operator rather than pro-consumer, such as its actions against fare cheats in 2005 [http://tnp.sg/speakup/story/0,4136,96442,00.html] . With public transport a key election topic, the Workers' Party called for the dissolution of the Council in its 2006 Manifesto [http://www.wp.org.sg/party/manifesto_2006.htm] in favour of a not-for-profit corporation in the leadup to the 2006 general elections. It also has its critics amongst the pro-free market, such as Ngiam Tong Dow who argue the PTC is over regulating the public transport system [http://www.todayonline.com/articles/128627.asp] .

Fare hike controversy of 2006

On 12 September 2006, the PTC approved applications from local transport operators SBS Transit and SMRT for an overall increase in bus and train fares of 1.7% [ cite news| url = http://www.ptc.gov.sg/news16.pdf | title = 1 to 3 Cents Increase in Bus and Train Fares from October | publisher=Public Transport Council | date= 12 September 2006 ] . This latest fare adjustment took effect on 1 October 2006. The PTC has justified the increase in fares based on the positive economic outlook in 2006 and a comparison of average public transport fares with the cities of Hong Kong, London and New York.

PTC cited good economic outlook as a justification of fare hike in its 2006 report. Nonetheless, PTC has been criticized for approving past fare hikes in previous years when there was an economic slowdown.

PTC justify the fare hike by comparing the fare of Hong Kong, London, and New York as these cities have higher fare compared to Singapore, but conveniently ignore other cities like KL, Jakarta, Manila and others.

Readers of The Straits Time also question PTC's survey accuracy. The letter is posted in [http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=7532758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:e1adbffb763de010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD:STForumArcIOID:1934bffb763de010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD:STForumArcDate:1163282340000 "Is the PTC's survey representative enough?"] . The PTC than rebutted the reader, saying that the survey is representative as it was carried out by the Singapore Management University using proper methodology [http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=7532758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:7a88a2ca4dcee010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD ] . The PTC claimed in the survey [http://www.ptc.gov.sg/news17.pdf] that "almost three quarters of them (passengers) said their daily expenditure were affordable", and the "interviews were conducted upon immediate completion of their bus trips...", this effectively exclude people that cannot afford to take the bus, and thereby contribute to the bias of the sample.

ee also

*Transport in Singapore
*Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
*Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore

References

External links

* [http://www.ptc.gov.sg/ Public Transport Council]