Yes. It has now come down to that $28 million dollar question.
It costs transport operators in Singapore $28 million dollars per year if polytechnic students are given travel concessions similar to that currently enjoyed by students from junior college (JCs) and Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs). That is $28 million dollars lost annually in terms of operating revenue. Period.
I have 2 points to make in response.
1. I do understand that public transport operators have to be answerable to their stakeholders through their corporate performance. Reducing costs and maximising revenue and in turn the profit margin is what a responsible private organisation should seek to achieve on a year-on-year basis. In that case, the transport operators may want to consider not giving any of the student groups any concessionary arrangements, or increase the amount that JC and ITE students are currently paying to match the rate that is pay forth by the polytechnic students. In other words, if travel concessions are provided forth in the first place, the least the transport operators should worry about is the revenue that may be lost through the granting of travel concessions since they are labeled as “concessions” to begin with.
2. The planned polytechnic intake for academic year 2012/2013 is 27,065 and the total number of polytechnic students is approximately 81,195. In 2010, the total enrollment of students in polytechnics is 83,452 inclusive of full-time, part-time and advanced diploma students. Thus, taking an enrolment number of 80,000, transport operators are spending on average less than $1 a day investing in the education of our polytechnic students. The $28 million can be seen in roughly two broad ways; as a cost to the transport operators or an investment on the part of the transport operators in the talent enterprise for the Singapore economy.
Till date, the transport operators remain entrenched in their perennial mindset that this figure of $28 million is an operating cost to them. Unfortunately so. A fundamental rethink is long overdue and let’s consider investing in the future of this nation, a move that is not only strategic but would most certainly be welcomed by the respective stakeholders and shareholders.
References:
- Travel concessions for poly students will cost transport operators S$28m – http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1177393/1/.html
- A Guide to Polytechnic Education (Planned Polytechnic Intake for Academic Year 2012/2013) – http://www.polytechnic.edu.sg/polyguide/Intake.html
- Department of Statistics, Singapore (Education, 2010) – http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/reference/yos11/statsT-education.pdf
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Filed under: Parliament, Singapore, Junior College, Polytechnics, Public Transportation, Tertiary Concession Fares
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