http://singaporedesk.blogspot.sg/2012/03/attack-dog-mode.html
........Latest revelation from Tharman Shanmugaratnam is that the $1.1 billion is for ramping up the bus fleet and covering operating costs - specifically $$280 million for 550 new buses and $820 million for operations - a significant deviation from pure asset acquisition to profit generation.........
Tharman says the government package amounts to a $110 million per year. What he does not care to disclose is that the bus companies paid out a similar amount in dividends for 2011 - exactly $129 millions(1,518,843,196 shares at 8.5 cents per share). The killer bit is his threat that if the government does not step in, commuters will have to pay 15 cents more in fares per journey.
That sounds rather like Raymond Lim once upon a time telling us that if public transportation is subsidised, GST will have to be hiked:
“The money still must come from somewhere, right? It is about 1.5 percentage point increase in your GST. So now it’s 7 (per cent), you want it to be free? You want the GST to go up to 8.5 per cent, to run a completely free bus and MRT system?”