Bus fares to go up by 1 to 2 cents from Oct 1
By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
BUS fares will go up by one to two cents from Oct 1, the Public Transport Council announced on Tuesday.
But there will be no increase in train fares.
Senior citizen concessionary EZ -Link bus fares, which are flat fares pegged to the lowest adult EZ-Link fare band will also increase by 2 cents, up from the current 65 cents.
However, because they are flat fares, the same 67 cents fare will apply regardless of the distance travelled.
'The PTC has to strike a balance between safeguarding commuters' interests and ensuring the financial viability of the public transport operators so that they can continue to improve their services over time and sustain their capital investments,' Chairman of the PTC Gerard Ee said. The Council said in August that transport operators SBS Transit and SMRT Corp had applied for fare increases - an annual revision exercise governed by a set formula.
This year, the formula caps fare rises at 1.8 per cent - or around three cents per ride.
The last fare increase was in October last year, when costs went up by one to three cents per ride.
Back then, the operators blamed high costs - in particular the high price of fuel and manpower - for the need to raise their fares. They are citing the same reasons this time.
SBS Transit, part of the ComfortDelGro group, for instance, said their costs have gone up significantly.
"Energy costs, for example, rose by 20 per cent or $20.3 million last year - having already increased by 41.2 per cent in 2005," SBS Transit spokesman Tammy Tan said.
"Manpower costs, the company's largest cost component, also increased by about $12.1 million during the year."
SBS also pointed out that it had invested heavily in buses as well as commuter services.
It spent $135 million on new buses in the past two years. And it has rolled out an online bus arrival system, which helps commuters to plan their journeys better.
Lower SMRT earnings
SMRT pointed out that the increase in the goods and services tax as well as the 1.5 percentage point rise in employers' CPF contributions will pull down its earnings by about $11 million a year.
It said the fare increase, if kept to this year's cap of 1.8 per cent, would only partially offset the company's total cost increases.
SBS is proposing to keep children and school student fares as well as concession pass charges unchanged.
SMRT has also said it will not raise fares for children and students, and all bus cash fares.
SMRT is also waiving any increase to the first fare band of its MRT single-trip ticket, which costs 90 cents. It added that it would extend its senior citizen concession hours to match SBS'.
Schemes to help the poor
Both operators said they would come up with schemes to help the poor cope with any fare rise.
'We have tried to keep fare increase small for as many commuters as possible but we know that any fare increase, no matter how small, would still be felt by commuters, especially tho se from needy families,
'Those who need additional help will receive help from the Government's Public Transport Fund. The public transport four operators will also chip in towards public transport vouchers to help low-income families cope with the fare increase,' Mr Ee said.
The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) is not entirely convinced that a fare hike is in order.
Case executive director Seah Seng Choon has pointed out that transport companies are enjoying "good returns." For instance, SMRT achieved a 39 per cent rise in net earnings to $37.94 million in the first quarter. "'With such significant increase in net earnings, commuters would certainly expect it to show clear justifications for any need to hike fares at this point in time,' he said.
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