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I’d like to alert people to a recent incident that happened to me that I’m sure has happened to other before too but they may not even be aware.
With the impending fare hikes, many Singaporeans are angry at the transport operators who are making huge profits each year but continuing to raise fares.
Another thing that we should be aware of is being overcharged on buses.
I was shocked to see that a mere 10 min bus ride on a Basic SBS Bus Service 66 was charged $1.86.
Investigation by Transitlink showed that the system recorded my boarding place at Science Centre when in fact I was at the eastern side of the island.
I don’t think everyone looks at the card readers every time they tap on and off to know if they’ve been overcharged. How much extra money are buses making from unsuspecting customers?
Seeing as the public transport operators are increasing their fares soon, they should also invest in displaying the stop names on the EZ Link card readers so that commuters know if the bus captain has input it in wrong.
I understand that the system belongs to LTA and not SBS, it doesn’t even cost operators anything to upgrade the systems if they are LTA’s systems. LTA should really get it’s act together and if we do see any changes, they definitely shouldn’t be funded by fares increases seeing as transport operators dont even own the systems and probably dont have to pay much to install new ones.
This will allow majority of commuters to verify the bus location and ensure that they are paying for the correct fare. The bus stop name is currently displayed only on the driver’s console.
While the accuracy and transparency of the public transportation fare system is being sorted out, I urge all bus commuters to familiarise themselves with the fare amounts they should be paying for the common routes that they travel and to check the fare deductions regularly.
Perhaps LTA should also look into auditing to ensure that the bus operators aren’t unfairly gaining extra profits from unsuspecting customers.
If there is a lot of overcharging occurring, there is no justification for allowing fare hikes when the operators are already cheating commuters of their money!
