20 October 2023
Weekly Wrap Up: Did Singapore's ride hailing scene cause COE prices to skyrocket?
The certificate of entitlement (COE) premium for the Open category breached the $150,000 mark at the latest tender exercise to close at a new all-time high of $152,000.
What has caused prices of COEs to skyrocket over the last few years? And is it time for the government to review the system?
Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences shares his views.

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21 February 2023
Why It Matters: Will luxury car taxes really affect the wealthiest in Singapore?
In his Budget 2023 speech, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said that cars with an OMV (the approximate cost of a car before taxes) higher than $80,000 will incur an additional registration fee (ARF, or the main car tax) of 320 percent from 220%.
Will it stop the rich in their tracks? Or will such cars be even more exclusive now that they are more expensive to buy? We speak to Dr. Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics, Singapore University of Social Sciences to get his insights on the subject.

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8 February 2023
Why It Matters: Reaction to P2P satisfaction survey among commuters
Passengers' satisfaction with taxi and private-hire car services dropped in 2022, with the score for wait time falling the most at 6.9,  a drop from the 7.6 in 202. That's according to the Public Transport Council’s 2022 Point-to-Point Transport Services Customer Satisfaction Survey (PCSS).
P2P services received a mean satisfaction score of 8.0 in 2022, compared to 8.4 in 2021.
To find out more about the (P2P) Services Customer Satisfaction Survey results, we speak to Transport Analyst Dr Walter Theseira who's also an Associate Professor, Economics, Singapore University of Social Sciences.

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25 November 2022
Weekly Wrap Up: Gig workers to get more benefits
In a major move to uplift more than 73,000 platform workers here, companies that hire them will have to provide standardised insurance protection for those who get hurt during working hours. As for CPF payments, they will be made compulsory only for those below 30 years old. But is this enough?
Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences shares more.

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14 October 2022
Weekly Wrap Up: Public transport fares to rise for a second straight year, will it go up next year, making it three?
Bus and train fares in Singapore will increase by up to 5 cents from December 26 due to rising energy prices. To help some families, a total of 600,000 public transport vouchers worth $30 each will be available for lower- to lower-middle-income households from December 28. But how much can these vouchers help? Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences shares more.

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17 June 2022
Weekly Wrap Up: Ang Mo Kio Sers - Some owners upset with top up, HDB exploring 'options'
News of a recent Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) exercise in Ang Mo Kio has caused some distress among a few residents in that estate with some worried about topping up money for similar-sized replacement flats and that they would not be able to secure a housing loan to pay for the shortfall because of their age.

We speak to Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences more about this.

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28 October 2021
Companies to Watch: Tesla joins the $1 trillion club, but is it all just hype?
The trillion-dollar-valuation club has a new member in Tesla, after reaching $1 trillion in market value recently. Tesla’s valuation milestone came as car-rental company Hertz placed an order for 100,000 of its vehicles -- that makes up 20% of its rental fleet. Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences shares what propelled Tesla successfully in the EV space and what has driven its valuation into the exclusive trillion-dollar club.

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28 May 2021
Weekly Wrap Up: Grab to raise ride-hailing fares by $1 from June 1 to improve driver earnings
Walter Theseira, Associate Professor, Economics & Head, Master of Management (Urban Transportation) Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences, discusses more about the headline and how it will affect both consumers and Grab drivers.

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