Fare committee mulls monthly adult transport pass
The committee tasked to review Singapore’s public transport fares has flagged the idea of a monthly adult pass as a way to help the middle-class.
In a blog post on Monday, the Fare Review Mechanism Committee (FRMC) noted that some heavy public transport users from average-income households spend some $120 or more each month on fares.
“Some way of helping them cap their monthly PT expenses would be worth looking at, such as a monthly adult pass,” the committee said.
The committee said it is also looking at how to help other commuter groups, such as low-income earners, the disabled community, polytechnic students as well as young children above 0.9m tall.
The FRMC was formed to review the effectiveness of the current fare adjustment formula and to propose improvements, including to the overall framework. It began reviewing the public transport concessions framework upon the request last month of Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew.
Meanwhile, in a related development, the Public Transport Council (PTC) has announced that starting April stiffer penalties would be imposed on public bus operators if they do not meet Quality of Service (QoS) standards.
In a statement on Monday, PTC said it would raise fines to $2,000 per day per bus service and $100, 000 per month per standard, up from the current $100 per day and $10, 000 per month.
The council explained that it decided to raise the penalties “to communicate that it takes a serious view of non-compliance” with the standards.
The result of this penalty raise will be reflected in the six-month assessment period between December 2012 to May 2013.
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