Bus And Train Fares Set For Highest Increase In Years

Get ready, Singapore. What the 70% have imposed on the rest of Singapore is happening again. After raising tax and other fees, the Government are turning back to their favourite fare increase plan – bus and train fares. The annual fare review exercise carried out by the Public Transport Council (PTC) is currently ongoing, and news reports coming out is that bus and train fares may go up by 7% next year.

If this mooted fare increase gets approved, it will be the highest fare increase for years. If this happens, fares could go up by $0.10, the maximum increase that can be allowed under the current fare formula, a measure implemented from 2018 to the year 2022. While some might say that $0.10 is a small price to pay, if taken into account each trip a person makes he needs to cough up $0.10 extra, someone might face up to $15 total of increased fares per month.

Reports in the mainstream media indicated that the potential fare increase are due to the double-digit increase in energy prices. Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan had already said in July that higher fares are needed to keep subsidies to the transport operators in check. So, if the fare increase thus happen, once again, the commuters end up as the ones paying the high price of mistakes made by people in the ivory towers.