22 October 2024
Morning Shot: Are current measures sufficient to ensure reliability of public transport?
Public transport fares should not be linked to service levels and disruptions. Singapore’s Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said that during his recent ministerial statement in Parliament on the East-West Line train disruption that occurred from 25th to 30th September, in response to Workers’ Party Gerald Giam’s question on whether this incident and service levels can be taken into consideration in the Public Transport Council’s fare review exercise.
On this episode of Morning Shot, Walter Theseira, Associate Professor for the Economics Programme at Singapore University of Social Sciences shares his insights.
Presented by: Audrey Siek
Produced & Edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Photo credits: Chong Jun Liang / ST

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3 September 2024
Morning Shot: How will you benefit from the Jobseeker support scheme?
A first-of-its-kind financial aid targeted at workers who lose their jobs involuntarily was launched by Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the National Day Rally recently.
Under the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme, lower- to middle-income individuals who have been retrenched can receive up to S$6,000 over six months, with payouts starting at a maximum of S$1,500 in the first month and declining subsequently.
To qualify for the scheme, Singaporeans and permanent residents must be unemployed due to involuntary reasons such as retrenchment or illness, have earned S$5,000 or less per month, be actively engaged in searching for a new job, among other conditions.
The scheme will be rolled out for citizens in April 2025, and for permanent residents in the first quarter of 2026.
On this episode of Morning Shot, Walter Theseira, Associate Professor for the Economics Programme at Singapore University of Social Sciences shares his perspectives.
Presented by: Emaad Akhtar & Audrey Siek
Produced & Edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Photo credits: Kua Chee Siong/ ST

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22 April 2024
Morning Shot: Why is greater control over ownership, management of key transport firms crucial?
Essential air, sea and land transport operators could be subject to more controls under a new draft law, which could come into force in the second half of 2024. Under the proposed amendments, designated entities will face three types of controls in the areas of ownership, operations and management appointments.
How do the proposed changes affect the resilience of such firms, and why is greater governmental control needed?
On this episode of Morning Shot, Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head of the Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme at Singapore University of Social Sciences explains.
Presented by: Emaad Akhtar
Produced & Edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Photo credits: ST File

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29 January 2024
Morning Shot: Half-truths & blind spots behind SimplyGo, and LTA’s U-turn
A recent reversal by the Land Transport Authority on its decision to phase out adult EZ-Link and NETS FlashPay cards in favour of the SimplyGo platform for public transport has got people wondering how new systems can be phased in more progressively to ensure no one’s left behind.
On this episode of Morning Shot, Walter Theseira, Associate Professor of Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences weighs in on how authorities can better balance the progressive roll-out of new systems versus costs involved, as well as how changes can be better communicated to the masses.
Presented by: Ryan Huang & Emaad Akhtar
Produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Photo credits: ST Gavin Foo

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8 December 2023
Weekly Wrap Up: ComfortDelGro to raise cab fares, is there a real need for it?
Singapore's largest taxi operator ComfortDelGro has announced that it will increase its cab fares to help cabbies defray higher operating costs. The last time this was done was back in March 2022. A new peak hour surcharge will also be implemented from 10am to 1.59pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
But is there a real need for them to do so again?
Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences shares his views.

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20 October 2023
Weekly Wrap Up: Did Singapore's ride hailing scene cause COE prices to skyrocket?
The certificate of entitlement (COE) premium for the Open category breached the $150,000 mark at the latest tender exercise to close at a new all-time high of $152,000.
What has caused prices of COEs to skyrocket over the last few years? And is it time for the government to review the system?
Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences shares his views.

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21 February 2023
Why It Matters: Will luxury car taxes really affect the wealthiest in Singapore?
In his Budget 2023 speech, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said that cars with an OMV (the approximate cost of a car before taxes) higher than $80,000 will incur an additional registration fee (ARF, or the main car tax) of 320 percent from 220%.
Will it stop the rich in their tracks? Or will such cars be even more exclusive now that they are more expensive to buy? We speak to Dr. Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics, Singapore University of Social Sciences to get his insights on the subject.

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8 February 2023
Why It Matters: Reaction to P2P satisfaction survey among commuters
Passengers' satisfaction with taxi and private-hire car services dropped in 2022, with the score for wait time falling the most at 6.9,  a drop from the 7.6 in 202. That's according to the Public Transport Council’s 2022 Point-to-Point Transport Services Customer Satisfaction Survey (PCSS).
P2P services received a mean satisfaction score of 8.0 in 2022, compared to 8.4 in 2021.
To find out more about the (P2P) Services Customer Satisfaction Survey results, we speak to Transport Analyst Dr Walter Theseira who's also an Associate Professor, Economics, Singapore University of Social Sciences.

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25 November 2022
Weekly Wrap Up: Gig workers to get more benefits
In a major move to uplift more than 73,000 platform workers here, companies that hire them will have to provide standardised insurance protection for those who get hurt during working hours. As for CPF payments, they will be made compulsory only for those below 30 years old. But is this enough?
Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences shares more.

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14 October 2022
Weekly Wrap Up: Public transport fares to rise for a second straight year, will it go up next year, making it three?
Bus and train fares in Singapore will increase by up to 5 cents from December 26 due to rising energy prices. To help some families, a total of 600,000 public transport vouchers worth $30 each will be available for lower- to lower-middle-income households from December 28. But how much can these vouchers help? Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences shares more.

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17 June 2022
Weekly Wrap Up: Ang Mo Kio Sers - Some owners upset with top up, HDB exploring 'options'
News of a recent Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) exercise in Ang Mo Kio has caused some distress among a few residents in that estate with some worried about topping up money for similar-sized replacement flats and that they would not be able to secure a housing loan to pay for the shortfall because of their age.

We speak to Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences more about this.

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28 October 2021
Companies to Watch: Tesla joins the $1 trillion club, but is it all just hype?
The trillion-dollar-valuation club has a new member in Tesla, after reaching $1 trillion in market value recently. Tesla’s valuation milestone came as car-rental company Hertz placed an order for 100,000 of its vehicles -- that makes up 20% of its rental fleet. Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences shares what propelled Tesla successfully in the EV space and what has driven its valuation into the exclusive trillion-dollar club.

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28 May 2021
Weekly Wrap Up: Grab to raise ride-hailing fares by $1 from June 1 to improve driver earnings
Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences, discusses more about the headline and how it will affect both consumers and Grab drivers.

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