RJC_Econs_2008 H2 Prelims P1_final_

Raffles Junior College JC2 Preliminary Examinations 2008 ECONOMICS Higher 2 9732/01 Paper 1 Case Study 15 September 2008 2 hour 15 minutes Additional Materials: Answer Booklet/Paper READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your name, index number and CT class on all the work you hand in. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. You may use a soft pencil for diagrams, graphs or roug h working. Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue or correction fluid. Answer both questions. Start each question on a fresh sheet of paper. At the end of the examination, securely fasten your work to each question separately . The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question. You are advised to spend several minutes per question reading through the data before you begin writing your answers. This document consists of 9 printed pages. JC2Prelims 9732_01 © RJC 2008 [Turn over R aff le s R aff le s R aff le s R aff le s Ju n io r Ju n io r Ju n io r Ju n io r Co lleg e Co lleg e Co lleg e Co lleg e Developing the Think er, Leader & Pioneer

9732/01/S/08 2 © RJC 2008 Answer all questions. Question 1 Land Transport in Singapore Figure 1 Table 2: Bus Fare Structures Distance Travelled (fare stages) Fare Per Ride (cent) Type of Passholder Price of Bus Pass Ez-link Card Cash Primary Student $22.50 4 or less 67 90 Secondary Student $27.50 4.5 – 7 89 110 Tertiary Student $52.00 7.5 – 10 109 130 Full-time NS man $61.00 10.5 – 13 119 140 Source: Land Transport Authority website Extract 1: 4 Months After Taxi Fare Hike In a bid to raise taxi drivers’ earnings, the six t axi companies increased their starting metered fare from $2.50 to $2.80, adjusted the mete r to tick faster (a 50% increase for every km) and revised peak-hour surcharge upwards by 35% in December last year. Three weeks after fares were raised, many taxi drivers claimed their earnings had fallen. Taxi driver Mr Richard Chew said business had been slow and he spent a longer time waiting for passengers. A check showed his net hourly takings had fallen by just 10%. Year S$ 2001 37749.49 2002 39017.53 2003 41083.33 2004 44459.84 2005 46784.78 2006 52941.06 Table 1 : Singapore Real GDP Per Capita Source: Singapore Department of Statistics [Turn over

9732/01/S/08 3 © RJC 2008 Another driver claimed his average net hour takings had fallen from $13 to $10 but yet another driver said his average takings of $80 a da y had remained largely unchanged. ‘The number of trips have dropped slightly, but the higher fares mean our income is more or less stable’, he added. It seems there has been a turnaround according to s urveys done. ComfortDelgro, the largest taxi operator here with about 15,000