What was SMRT thinking?
SMRT said on Monday it had decided against making a takeover bid for Addison Lee, London’s biggest minicab operator after
Britain’s Sky News reported over the weekend that SMRT was planning a £800m (S$1.6bn) for Addison*.
It shouldn’t have even tot of bidding because SMRT’s market capitalisation of S$2.3bn was only 30% more than reported bid price.. It’s finances are not in great shape either. At the end of its last financial yr, cash flow was negative and gearing stood at 65%, while it also suffered its first loss in its fare business.
It also has operational problems here.
So what were the ex-scholar and his fellow ex-SAF officers thinking?
Plenty of things to do in S’pore (including more reliable service) and it doesn’t need any distraction abroad,”
And going abroad in a political nightmare for the govt and SMRT: if it loses money, S’poreans will be screaming (rightly) that the public is subsidising their failure overseas.
The investment bank that brought a proposal to SMRT to bid should have been sent packing immediately, not entertained enough so that a staff member would leak that SMRT was planning to bid.
Happinness is taking public tpt
It’s ’cause commuting by public transport makes people happy.
No this isn’t ST propoganda for the the PAP govt, LTA, SMRT or ComfortDelgro/ SBS.
But a study in the UK where cars don’t cost a fortune, and where the public are unhappy with expensive and crowded public transport.
The University of East Anglia study surveyed 18,000 passengers and found that even when other factors that may affect wellbeing were taken out of the equation commuters who travelled to work on public transport were happier (that is, scored lower on feelings of worthlessness, unhappiness and sleeplessness) than those who drove. Key to it all is what public health experts call “active travel”. Drivers are choosing a “non-passive travel mode” requiring constant concentration. This can be boring, isolating and stressful. Active travellers, on the other hand, have time to relax. The simple walk to and from the station appears to have intrinsic value. As the UEA economist who led the study put it: “It appears to cheer people up.”
While we’re putting things simply, apparently the people who chose to take public transport were around half a stone lighter, too – the bodyweight benefits were found to be on a par with cycling. I don’t wish to do down the car, and perhaps I’m unusual in some ways – my commute is often the only hour in my day that is truly my own, which must go some way to making it special. If I had all day to read and listen to podcasts and radio programmes, perhaps I’d feel differently. But who has all day to do those things? Moreover, who wouldn’t feel better if they added half an hour or so of moderate exercise to their daily routine?
The LTA and our constructive, nation-building media missed a PR trick when they disn’t highlight the UK study (The Guardian is the kind of paper that only Maruah-type people and economic illiterates like Roy read) when trumpeting, The number of bus services that were crowded during peak periods has fallen substantially over the past two years, following the addition of 450 buses under the Government’s Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP).
‘Giving an update on the programme, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the number of bus services carrying passengers at more than 85 per cent capacity during peak hours had fallen from 96 before the implementation of the BSEP to 38 in July.
The S$1.1 billion BSEP was launched in 2012 to boost connectivity and bus-service levels. Under the programme, a total of 1,000 government-funded buses will be added to the public transport network by 2017. [CNA]
The media went ape reporting the joy of commuters at the extra buses.
Locals can still afford CoEs
So we learnt last week that FTs didn’t cause CoE prices to (only 13% went to foreigners, Wonder waz the PR %? As usual not given.
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*Addison Lee is being put up for sale by its private equity owner, Carlyle Group, which paid £300 million for a majority stake in April 2013. Carlyle has decided to start an auction process after receiving unsolicited offers for the business.
Private equity firms BC Partners, CVC Capital and Charterhouse were reportedly among those making bids.
Thoughts of a Cynical Investor 
The difference is the weather. Walking to a station or waiting in the hot sun. No, it doesn’t make people happy. It makes the people curse and swear.
Gd point.
It’s because they need to “grow” mah. Growth is always good what! The opposite of growth is to shrink, which is not good! Perfect Singapore Elite logic.