dkw said:Exactly, the relative country GDPs are provided below, which show very little difference in dollar terms as far as Singapore, France and US are concerned (mind you, adjusted already). So if you do the proper conversions on the train fares, you will see SMRT underprices Paris and Washington by a long mile and is even slightly cheaper than HK MTR, despite higher country GDP for Singapore.
Here, I'll do it for you, comparing lowest fare or single trip;
Washington --> US$1.35
Paris --> US$1.79
HK --> US$0.51
S'pore --> US$0.49
If you don't agree with my methodology, please offer up one of your own to demonstrate why the comparison (on price only) is not valid. Bear in mind again, the GDP for US, France and Singapore are nearly equal, with HK some distance behind. Bear in mind also, that the residents of France and the US pay far higher VAT and income taxes than Singaporeans....given the overall economic structure and stage of country development, you have a hard time convincing me that MRT fares in Singapore are over-priced.
You have yet to convince us that the methology is valid. Numbers are just numbers and does not reflect the real situation. Definition of GDP can be found here and in general it consists of Private Consumption, Investments, Government Expenditure and Net Exports in short. Country A can have high investments, government expenditure, net exports but super low wages and overemployed employees while Country B have much higher wages and same GDP as Country A. With the same transport cost, Country B's workers can of course be able to afford it more easily and perceived it as cheaper as when compared to Country A.
Please, if like that you calculate affordability, then those who have PHD, Masters in Financial and Economic studies, no need to work liao. But of course, numbers are deceiving end of the day. No need to compare to other countries, the price are OK now as indeed SMRT produce SGD127million profits in the latest financial year release.