I haven't actually worked out whether I am paying more or less with this new distance related fare.According to the PTC, only 31% of commuters will have increased fare. Yet practically everyone I spoke to said their fare have got up. Why?
Seems like prior to this, there was inequality in the fare with passengers having to do transfer paying more than those taking direct journey. So through no fault of them, they had to pay more. To correct his anomaly, the fares have now been tweaked so that anybody travelling the same distance (be it direct or via transfer) will pay the same fare. Sounds good? Yes, if nothing else has changed but in the process, transfer rebates were removed, fares were tweaked if I am not wrong and those who are taking longer direct journey now pays more! To make it worse, concession for senior citizens and students were also tweaked and yes, of course majority now pays more - unless they go the indirect route.
So people, in order to save on fare now, you have to transfer and transfer. Forget about walking from home to the MRT. Take a shuttle bus to the MRT. Forget about taking a direct bus from East Coast Road to World Trade Centre. Take a bus, transfer at Paya Lebar MRT, take Circle line and transfer to again to North East line to Harbourfront station. It saves you money!
One *&#) minister even had the gall to say that commuters should plan their journey on a weekly basis and not on a daily basis. How? Next, are we supposed to have 5 years plan for our transportation need? And of course, we hear the oft repeated mantra - big picture and for the country's long term good! Good my foot. They should just come outright and said good for the shareholders of the transport companies!
Er let me share, in the past, commuters making transfers have been cross-subsidising those who take direct journeys. As a result, commuters making direct journeys paid less, while those making transfers paid more due to transfer penalties..
ReplyDeleteFor Senior Citizen, the fare starts from 53 cts now as compared to 69 cts initially and now the capping is at 7.2 km.
Alot of other issues to look at and yes, feedbacks received fast & furious over this too so I can only share a bit of this.
157 people have voted regarding Distance Fares @ http://sgjobs.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteHi Shiong, I am not against the distance related fare. I think it was way overdue but there isn't really any cause for the bus fares to be increased and the concession fares to be removed. After all, the 2 transport companies made tons of money every years and has big fat reserves so I don't see why commuters should be paying more for something that was essentially their own fault in the past.
ReplyDeleteI get what you mean Koh :D
ReplyDelete"Take a bus, transfer at Paya Lebar MRT, take Circle line and transfer to again to North East line to Harbourfront station. It saves you money!"
ReplyDeleteJust to let you know that hoping from the East West Line to the Circle Line and the North East Line does not count as a transfer. So long as you do not exit a station, it will be counted as a direct trip. So in other words, we would have to literally hop from bus to bus or bus to train or train to bus. Train to train does not count :-((