TOP OF THE NEWS
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2012
By SALMA KHALIK
NEW BUS SERVICES AND ENHANCEMENTS
HEALTH CORRESPONDENT
More than 50 bus
services will be
improved and five
new bus services
will be introduced
by the end of
this year.
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■- Hougang to Serangoon
(Launch date: 4Q 2012)
■55 ■- Bishan to
■58 Punggol (Launch
■410 date: 4Q 2012)
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■119 (loop) Extending to Punggol
(Launch date: Oct 21)
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Yishun Ring Road to Khatib MRT
(Launch date: Oct 21)
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CANCER-SCREENING, obesity,
and binge-drinking will be
among the issues to be addressed
by the Women’s Health Advisory
Committee, as it sets out its vision to improve the health of Singapore’s women.
Set up by the Health Ministry
this year, the 14-member group
brings together people from the
public, private, and volunteer sectors, and is headed by Dr Amy
Khor, Minister of State for
Health and Manpower.
Dr Khor said that getting women to be more health-conscious
will have “a ripple effect” on the
rest of the family.
“Women are major decision
makers at home.
“They decide what to buy for
meals, they have greater influence over the children, and they
are also the ones who look after
or pay more attention to their parents,” she told The Straits Times
this week.
On the to-do list is to reach
out to organisations that work
closely with women, such as the
Breast Cancer Foundation, so
that together, the various groups
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(Launch date: 4Q 2012)
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■- Punggol to
Bishan (Launch
date: 4Q 2012)
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■- Tampines to CBD
(Launch date: 4Q 2012)
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TOP OF THE NEWS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2012
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■ Enhancements to existing trunk services
■ Enhancements to existing feeder bus services
■ New bus services
Ter Terminal Int Interchange Dep Depot
Women’s
health issues
highlighted
Committee aims to boost screening
for cancers, raise obesity awareness
can reach a wider audience, said
Dr Khor.
Since its first meeting in
March, the group has also asked
the Health Promotion Board for
statistics on women’s health, in
order to identify areas to focus
on.
What it found was that relatively few women here screen for
cancers.
For example, only 40 per cent
of women here screen for breast
cancer every other year between
the ages of 50 and 69, as recommended by cancer doctors.
Among developed countries,
the average is 62 per cent, and in
Finland, which boasts the highest
screening rates, 84 per cent of
women screen regularly.
Similarly, less than half of
women aged 25 to 69 screen regularly – once every three years –
for cervical cancer, compared to
over 60 per cent in OECD coun-
A3
tries and 90 per cent in the United States.
Breast and cervical cancers are
two of the most treatable cancers
in women.
The committee also noted that
older women are twice as likely
as older men to fall and get a hip
fracture.
And one in three women aged
60 to 69 is diabetic, compared to
slightly less than one in four men
of the same age.
So, aside from getting more of
them to screen for cancer, the focus for older women would be to
get them to reduce obesity and
build up bone mass through diet
and exercise, Dr Khor said.
Areas it will work on in younger women include binge-drinking
and smoking.
The committee has produced a
100-page booklet with health
tips that inspire women to lead
healthier lives.
The booklet also tells its readers what to screen for, and when.
It will be launched at Ngee
Ann City this Sunday.
An online version can be
found at www.inspiringwomen.sg.
salma@sph.com.sg
www.facebook.com/ST.Salma
Source: LTA
ST GRAPHICS
Five new routes, over 90
new buses by year-end
First phase of Government’s
$1.1 billion plan to boost bus network
By ROYSTON SIM
FIVE new bus routes and more
than 90 buses will be added to the
nation’s bus network by year-end
in the first phase of the Government’s $1.1 billion plan to improve
bus services in Singapore.
To be rolled out over the next
three months, the new routes will
service commuters mainly in the
north and north-east, including in
the relatively new neighbourhoods of Sengkang and Punggol.
Existing services in other areas, including Bukit Panjang and
Boon Lay, will be allocated more
than 50 buses to ease congestion
during peak commuter periods.
Transport Minister Lui Tuck
Yew, in announcing these plans
during a visit to Yishun Bus Interchange yesterday, said the authorities had taken a holistic view of
the bus network to target areas
for improvement.
He said: “We want to try and
recognise which are the services
that need augmentation, but we also want to spread the benefits geographically as much as possible.”
He added that to avoid congestion on the roads – because of the
extra buses – bus priority measures such as bus lanes and the
Mandatory Give-Way to Buses
scheme will have to be extended.
“What we want to do is to
make sure that the buses are effective in doing the job that they are
meant to do,” said Mr Lui, adding
that operators have hired 150
more drivers this year compared
to the same period last year.
The more than 90 new buses is
about one eighth of the 800 new
buses proposed under the Government’s $1.1 billion Bus Service Enhancement Programme.
Under this initiative, the Government will pay for 550 buses
and introduce 40 new routes over
the next five years.
The remaining buses will be
funded by bus operators SBS Transit and SMRT.
Of the five new routes, two will
start operations from Oct 21.
$3k a month to wash dishes? They want the job
By GOH CHIN LIAN
ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG
IDENTIFYING NEEDS, SPREADING GAINS
“We want to try and recognise which are the
services that need augmentation, but we also
want to spread the benefits geographically as
much as possible.”
Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew (above right, with Nee Soon GRC MP
Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, on a bus bound for Yishun Bus Interchange
yesterday)
Bus service 860 – an entirely
new service – will run along Yishun Ring Road between Khatib
and Yishun MRT stations.
Service 119 from Kovan to Seng-
kang Interchange will have its current route extended.
Instead of stopping at Sengkang, it will ply four more stops
and end at Punggol Interchange.
The remaining three routes will
be introduced in November and
December.
The Land Transport Authority
(LTA) said that these routes are
still being finalised, but one will
be a parallel bus service from Tampines to the Central Business District.
The other two will link commuters from Bishan to Punggol,
and from Hougang to Serangoon.
The LTA added that in its quarterly review of bus services, a total of 190 more weekly trips during peak hours had been added to
30 bus services.
And from next Monday, 28
new buses will be put on the roads
during peak periods to improve 26
heavily-used services. This will
add 335 more bus trips weekly.
Another 25 bus services will be
allocated more buses in the fourth
quarter of this year.
Responding to these changes,
Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Janil
Puthucheary said residents along
Punggol Field would appreciate
the expanded service 119 as there
are currently not very many buses
in the neighbourhood.
Yishun resident Tamil Selvan,
43, said the bus stop nearest to
his home has only service 811, and
missing the bus means a 10- to
15-minute wait.
He said: “There’s no other bus
now. The additional service
makes it easier for residents and
will save some travelling time.”
roysim@sph.com.sg
BARELY a day after Sakae Sushi
confirmed an offer to pay dishwashers $3,000 a month, some
300 enquiries and applications
have poured in.
They came after the restaurant chain made headlines for saying it could not get workers at
that salary, which is more than
twice what an average dishwasher earns.
Yesterday, the company gave
more details while urging only
“serious” applicants to contact
it. “We would like to emphasise
that this position includes other
cleaning responsibilities, not just
dishwashing, and is very physically demanding,” it said in a Facebook post.
Brand and communications
manager Gregg Lewis said the
dishwashers need to work 12
hours a day, six days a week –
from 10.30am to 10.30pm with
breaks. This differed slightly
from the nine hours a day that
Sakae Sushi chief Douglas Foo
had told the media previously.
Yesterday, Mr Lewis explained
that the company had discussed
several scenarios with different
work hours, and had decided on
the final job scope only late on
Wednesday night.
“What Douglas mentioned previously was based on one of the
scenarios tested that was found
not to be feasible due to crowd
volume,” he said.
Sakae Sushi’s offer, which
emerged last week, created a
buzz among netizens.
The latest news about a
72-hour week sparked a fresh
round of debate, with some netizens wondering whether it flouted the Employment Act. This
says workers cannot work for
more than 44 hours a week, ex-
cluding overtime and breaks.
Mr Foo said last night that the
$3,000 package includes overtime pay for the extra hours and
does not contravene the Act.
Sakae Sushi has more than 40
dishwashers, including some locals working such hours, he said.
It pays contractors $2,300 to
$2,900 for each, though he reckons workers take home far less after the contractors take a cut.
“They’re working so hard. I
wish they could be paid the
amount that we are paying to the
contractor,” he said. “I feel locals
should be under direct hire...”
Sakae Sushi had tried to hire
dishwashers directly, but faced
problems with inconsistent attendance and workers calling in
sick or resigning unexpectedly.
Mr Foo said that for a start, it
could hire around five more dishwashers on the $3,000 salary.
Meanwhile, the offer contin-
ued to draw attention.
Minister for Law and Foreign
Affairs K. Shanmugam commented on Facebook: “Sakae Sushi
boss says they are offering
$3,000 per month for dishwashers but can’t find people?”
Said National Trades Union
Congress deputy secretary-general Ong Ye Kung: “I am surprised
at $3,000 there are no takers.”
He added that its Employment
and Employability Institute is
contacting the chain and other
big hirers to help them.
Mr Zainudin Nordin, who
chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower,
lauded Sakae Sushi for paying its
dishwashers a salary comparable
to its managers and supervisors.
“If one company can do it, it just
shows it’s not impossible.”
chinlian@sph.com.sg
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY
TESSA WONG AND JANICE HENG