Tag Archives: Straits Times 20 Jun 2014

I appreciate the efforts, perseverance and commitment of all parties - from the Transport Ministry to the Public Transport Council to bus operators and my colleagues - for aiming to make bus rides comfortable and convenient. It is never the intention of the bus operator or its employees to hold up arrival times. Such accusations are unjust. Take, for instance, service 178, which plies between Woodlands Regional Interchange and Boon Lay Interchange. The route is about 30km long. There are 34 bus stops along the way and more than 40 pedestrian crossings and traffic lights. The buses are dispatched from the interchange every 15 minutes by a timekeeper. But it can take two to nine minutes from the time the driver clocks out from the timekeeper's office to when the bus actually hits the main service road.

THE ranks of Singapore's ultra- wealthy shot up last year - along with their combined wealth - on the back of strong economic growth and increased savings. The number of high net worth individuals - those with investable assets of at least US$1 million (S$1.25 million), excluding homes - rose from 100,500 in 2012 to 105,100, according to a report released yesterday.

In the case of retirees who, when they were looking for their first homes, were not eligible for HDB flats because of the salary conditions, they had no choice but to buy private property. For many, the choice then, when there were few condominiums, was either a single- or double-storey landed property. If such a retiree needs to sell his private home today, he cannot sell it to a foreigner, who is likely to have greater buying power, as the house is less than seven storeys high - a restriction that does not apply to condominium units.

A SENIOR employee of the People's Association was fined $5,000 yesterday for giving false information to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) about a constituency volunteer. Jo Soh Bee Ching, 40, who was the director of the Changi-Simei constituency, told an anti-graft investigator the volunteer had signed statements in her presence disclosing a conflict of interest when he joined a company that had dealings with the club.