SCHEME B BUS OPERATORS (Amalgamation into a limited company)

Mr Shriniwas Rai asked the Minister for Communications if he will consider amalgamating into a limited company Scheme B bus operators so as to serve the public better.

The Minister of State for Communications (Dr John Chen Seow Phun) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Scheme B bus operators are mainly individual operators whose main business is to provide chartering and school bus services. They also serve some of the scheduled bus routes during peak hours to supplement the two major bus operators, SBS and TIBS. My Ministry does not see the need for them to amalgamate in order to improve their services. Nevertheless, there is nothing to prevent them to amalgamate on their own if they find it advantageous to do so.

Mr Shriniwas Rai (Nominated Member): Sir, would the Minister consider, like the taxi drivers who were individual operators and the system has benefited because of amalgamation, that it would be a good idea to encourage these Scheme B bus operators to form a company even if they are not coming on their own?

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: Sir, at the moment, there are already two bus companies, SBS and TIBS. They cover the whole of Singapore quite adequately. These Scheme B buses are to supplement their services for some routes where there is demand. It is a different situation compared to the taxi industry in the earlier days where you had individual taxi drivers and in order to organise the industry there was a need then to help them to come together to form a cooperative. But here it is a different situation and there is really no need for us to do that because they are the niche service, so to speak.