IF THE Transport Ministry were run by the people behind the socio-political blog The Online Citizen (TOC), car owners would be one unhappy lot.

The band of 15 say that, instead of giving road tax rebates to motorists, the Government should up the tax - and use the revenue to subsidise public transport. They also recommend raising competition among transport operators, tracking them more closely and raising bus services' performance benchmarks, such as cleanliness and timeliness.

These and other suggestions are contained in a 10-page report TOC released yesterday, ahead of its public forum at the Speakers' Corner tomorrow evening. Their report is underpinned by a falling proportion of Singaporeans using public transport: The proportion of people choosing this mode during the morning peak hour dipped from 67 per cent in 1997 to 63 per cent in 2004.

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