At SMRT Taxis, cabbies are called “taxi partners”, reflecting their value to the company.

The cabbies also enjoy such perks as bursaries for their school-going children, discounted fuel prices at Esso petrol stations and free health checks when they send their taxis to the SMRT workshop in Woodlands for servicing.

These perks are the brainchild of the firm’s general manager Tony Heng, 43, and for his enlightened management style, he was awarded a Medal of Commendation by the National Trades Union Congress last night as part of its May Day celebrations.

“It is an honour,” he told The Straits Times, adding that cabbies are an under-appreciated lot here.

They are required to drive 250km each day, spending as long as 12 hours on the road, and face the risk of drunks and thugs running off without paying the fare, and, worse, being robbed.

“Few realise they provide a transport service and even fewer say ‘thank you’,” said Mr Heng.

“I understand well how stressful it is for taxi drivers on the roads,” he said, as he used to drive buses for his family’s transport company.

He joined ComfortDelGro in 2003 after it bought his family’s business.

In 2011, SMRT Taxis hired him to be its director and, in 2013, he was promoted to general manager.

One of his key achievements, he said, was growing its fleet from 2,500 to 3,500 now. “We would not have been able to grow without the support of our taxi partners.”

He has been getting regular feedback from cabbies over competition from private-hire car companies such as Uber and GrabCar.

Earlier this month, SMRT launched its private-hire car arm Strides. It plans to put 300 cars on the road over six months. “This is often misunderstood as us competing with private-hire car companies. It is not. It allows us to give an option to our taxi partners who want to drive private-hire cars,” he said.

“We let them transfer their loyalty discounts of $5 a day off daily rents when they switch.”

Mr Heng was nominated by the National Taxi Association for the May Day award. It said his “firm yet visionary leadership…steered the management to not only respect the association but, more importantly, to work hand in hand with the leaders of the association”.

Still, there were occasional differences. In 2013, the association said a letter the firm sent to taxi drivers who did not meet taxi service standards was terse – it had warned it could terminate its hiring contracts.

“We understood what the association said,” said Mr Heng, who introduced relationship officers to talk to the drivers instead of just sending them letters.

This article was first published on April 30, 2016.
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Reader Jason Oon wrote to askST to commend the National Environment Agency (NEA) on its efforts at encouraging recycling and the introduction of recycling bins at HDB estates.

He added: “I’m interested in knowing if NEA monitors recycling outputs from residential areas and if what people are putting into the recycling bins is indeed recycled or ends up being treated as garbage because they are contaminated.”

Environment reporter Audrey Tan answers.

As pointed out by the reader, the Government has implemented a slew of measures to encourage people living here to go green. Unfortunately, Singapore residents are still recycling less.

In March last year, The Straits Times reported that the domestic recycling rate fell to 19 per cent in 2014 from 22 per cent in 2010.

This was despite a raft of government initiatives to make it more convenient for people to recycle.

For instance, since September 2014, every Housing Board block has had a blue recycling bin, in which people put paper, plastics and other recyclables, placed close by. Before the initiative began in 2011, one bin was shared by five blocks. In January 2014, the HDB also said it would install recycling chutes in all new blocks with throw points on each floor.

Recyclables collected in the big blue bins are picked up by a dedicated recycling truck and sent to a materials recovery facility, where they are sorted into different waste streams, such as plastic, paper, metal and glass, bundled, and sent to local and overseas recycling plants.

Although there have been cases where public waste collection companies were found to have mixed items meant for recycling with rubbish for incineration during refuse collection, the NEA requires recyclables and waste to be collected separately and in separate trucks.

There are various recycling facilities in Singapore for recycling different types of waste. When paper is sent to a recycling facility, for instance, it is shredded, soaked in vats, and made into pulp. After further refinement, the pulp is fed into a machine to be made into sheets of paper. Recycled glass is first sorted at the facility based on colour, then cleaned and crushed into cullets, which are melted to form new products.

A list of local recycling companies which process different sorts of waste can be found at www.nea.gov.sg.

The NEA said the dip in domestic recycling rate in 2014 was largely due to a 30 per cent increase in food waste output over the period.

If food waste is placed with other recyclables, it would contaminate the lot, which the public waste collector then has to toss out. This puts the brakes on Singapore’s green push. A good habit to practise at home is to separate food waste from other recyclables instead of dumping them together.

In Seattle in the United States, residents who fail to separate food waste from trash can be fined US$1 (S$1.35) for each violation, and up to US$50 for business or apartment complexes.

Last year, the overall recycling rate here was 61 per cent.

Will it be necessary to implement a fine system here, considering that Singapore wants to have an overall recycling rate of 70 per cent by 2030? You decide.

This article was first published on April 30, 2016.
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A plan for the Government to assume ownership of all rail assets is stuck in second gear, with stakeholders still struggling to come to an agreement almost six years after the policy shift was mooted.

At yesterday’s post-results briefing, SMRT Corp chief executive Desmond Kuek said talks with the authorities on a transition to the so-called new rail financing framework is “progressing” – something which SMRT has been saying for at least eight quarters.

Mr Kuek added that when the move is complete “SMRT Trains will be asset-light” as all operating and fixed assets will be transferred to the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

SMRT will then pay the LTA for an operating licence. It will focus on meeting service standards in order to re-tender for operating contracts that last for about 15 years – instead of 30 today. Under such a model, an operator’s focus is not diluted by concerns of hefty and lumpy capital expenditures for asset renewal. And the Government can replace a non-performing operator more easily instead of having to wait 30 years.

Asked when the transition would take place, Mr Kuek said he was not at liberty to divulge more – another frequent refrain.

So far, only the Downtown Line operated by SBS Transit falls within the new framework. But even that company has not yet converted its North-East Line contract, which is valid till 2033. SMRT’s North- South and East-West line contract expires in 2028, while its Circle Line deal ends in 2019.

The Straits Times understands that most major issues have been resolved, and that the only ones remaining pertain to earnings accrued from non-transit operations but which are tied to transit.

These are namely rental of retail space in train stations, and revenue from advertisements on trains.

In the case of SMRT, the two account for three-quarters of its operating profit. It enjoys an operating margin of about 60 per cent for the pair, largely because it pays only a token rental to the Government for the stations.

Under the new regime, the Government is said to be looking at these fat margins when devising the operating licensing fee it will charge SMRT. This is so that the operator’s future margins are more in line with the lower risks it assumes in an asset-light regime.

It is said that this probable formula is spooking some shareholders, who feel it will impact SMRT’s earnings in the near term.

Research analyst Abhishek Nigam at stockbroking firm Nomura predicts SMRT’s rail margin will be in the region of 5 per cent. That would translate to an operating profit of $34 million based on revenue for the year ended March 31.

That compares with last year’s loss of nearly $10 million, if not for a tax writeback.

“It’s better for SMRT to move to the new framework. It will help them with their cashflow quite a bit,” Mr Nigam said. “I think it will happen, but the timing is uncertain.”

This article was first published on April 30, 2016.
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The community will be roped in to fight terrorism by sending vital information to the police during an emergency.

The new i-Witness function within the Police@SG mobile app will let the public alert the police to an attack by sending text, pictures and videos.

Launched yesterday, it forms the next phase of the Singapore Police Force’s (SPF) crowdsourcing efforts by tapping in-built cameras in mobile devices.

“If we can reach out effectively, it will provide SPF with millions of sensors, millions of pairs of eyes, which will help us protect our people better in our communities,” said Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam.

Besides major incidents, the public can also report crime and traffic matters using the app.

A new SMS service will also be rolled out on Sunday. It allows the public to send necessary information to the police when it is unsafe to call 999. For instance, in hostage situations where speaking would reveal a person’s position, the person can instead SMS vital information to 71999.

Public education efforts will also be stepped up to better prepare the community in the event of a terror attack.

They include raising awareness in the coming months of “Run, Hide, Tell”, as part of the SG Secure movement.

Rather than confront armed assailants, the public will be advised to run away from danger, hide from the attackers and inform the authorities immediately about the threat through various channels, such as i-Witness.

Police national service officers will be trained to be SG Secure mobilisers under a new community-engagement vocation.

These officers will support the Community Policing Units at the neighbourhood police centres and form the key link to the ground by communicating counter-terrorism messages in schools and at community events.

This article was first published on April 30, 2016.
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Three in four of 812 bus drivers hired by Tower Transit, the third local bus operator, are Singaporeans or permanent residents.

Of those hired, 278 – or 34 per cent – are joining the public bus industry for the first time.

Tower Transit has hired 448 new bus drivers – all Singaporeans or PRs – since October.

The median age of these new bus drivers is 43. This is 15 years younger than the industry median of 58. The youngest driver is 21.

The recruitment figures, which it said shows “demographics that buck industry trends”, were revealed at a media briefing at Bulim Bus Depot yesterday.

SMRT Buses employs about 2,500 staff. About half of them are Singaporeans and permanent residents.

When contacted, SBS Transit said it could not share data on staff as it is “competitive information”.

Tower Transit managing director Andrew Bujtor said of its recruitment drive: “This is unprecedented in the local public bus industry.

“When we were first awarded the Bulim Package, we prepared ourselves for the uphill task of recruiting talented Singaporeans to captain our buses. We weren’t, however, prepared for the wave of interest that followed.”

The company said over 5,000 people have expressed interest in joining as drivers since May last year.

It offers a higher starting wage than the incumbents and 26 weeks’ paid maternity leave.

National Transport Workers’ Union executive secretary Melvin Yong said in a Facebook post: “It is indeed good news that our third public bus operator, Tower Transit, has recruited a team of bus captains with a strong Singaporean core.”

He said the management had been in touch with the industry. “They, too, acknowledge the importance of being able to attract and retain more Singaporeans in the industry.”

This article was first published on April 30, 2016.
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