The government recently stopped the free shuttle buses to the two IRs in Singapore, and the whole way this thing has been done makes me beyond pissed. What I see is a classic case of the government screwing up, and making Singaporeans pay for the problem. Don't tell me the government gets things right all the time, because I have two eyes and a brain and I can see.
Firstly, the routes were approved by the LTA. Could they not have seen then that this would lead to people from the heartlands taking the free shuttle, especially if the routes were planned into heartland centres? If you planned routes to HDB estates and don't expect HDB dwellers to use them, then who the hell are you expecting to take the bus?
Secondly, is it really fair to bus companies and bus drivers here to just suddenly pull the plug on a business like that? Some of these bus companies invested $2 million on new buses, and they are hiring almost 30 drivers. Just pulling the plug like this, it means they lose a lot of money and 30 more honest living bus drivers go jobless. And this is just because you want to appear "morally upright", which honestly cuts no ice with people who know it is all just a smokescreen for your screw up.
Thirdly, how can you be sure that stopping the bus services will stop the gamblers? Your $100 entry fee didn't stop them. Now you're just making sure they have to pay another $5-10 more to take the transport system to get there. Oh brilliant, why didn't I see that, you earn even more money, from ERP, and from all the other transport costs.
And what about all the other families who are taking the bus to go to the theme parks? Or the elderly people who benefit from the free shuttle because of its convenience?
Honestly, this whole farce makes me beyond pissed. It is a classic case of ivorytowerism, of people living up there in their elite world who have long forgotten to look down and see what life is like on the ground, who make summary judgments based on high-horse "moral values" and wanting to not make it "too easy to gamble."
The casino was built to earn our money, and it's about time to admit it. If you wanted to stop locals from going in, the levy would have been $1000 rather than $100, or you would have banned the locals outright. Stop trying to pretend you're looking after our moral values when all you're interested in is our money.