Wheel Insights Podcast

Raising school bus fares cannot solve woes in industry

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(From left) Director of Hui Leong and transport officer of the Singapore School Transport Association Mr Darry Lim talking to ST senior transport correspondent Lee Nian Tjoe. ST PHOTO: AMIRUL KARIM

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(From left) Director of Hui Leong and transport officer of the Singapore School Transport Association Mr Darry Lim with ST senior transport correspondent Lee Nian Tjoe in the ST podcast studio. ST PHOTO: AMIRUL KARIM

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Lee Nian Tjoe

UPDATED Dec 18, 2024, 06:00 PM

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Synopsis: Every 3rd Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times examines not just vehicle prices but wider transport issues and trends connected to public and private transport.

School bus fares are constantly rising, and yet operators are saying that ferrying pupils to schools is a loss-making venture with little way out. Mr Darry Lim, 44, who grew his father’s bus company from eight to 38 buses, says that the troubles facing the industry are only worsening as a sizable number of local drivers are leaving the trade every year. 

Darry is the director of Hui Leong, a private transport company and serves as the transport officer of the Singapore School Transport Association which represents mainly self-employed school bus drivers.

Highlights (click/tap above): 

2:21 More drivers than buses are needed.

4:11 The shrinking local driver population also means a cut in foreign drivers because of the allowable foreign worker quota, worsening the situation. 

7:05 A driver’s typical working day start at 5.30am to pick up the first pupil. 

15:40 The international school student chips in. 

19:15 “I might be dead before I can pay off the bus!”

Read Lee Nian Tjoe’s articles: https://str.sg/wt8G

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Host: Lee Nian Tjoe (niantjoel@sph.com.sg)

Produced & edited by: Amirul Karim

Executive producers: Ernest Luis and Lynda Hong

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