Wednesday, February 11, 2009 7:25 pm
National Transport Petition 1st Press Release!
A new formula for students’ transportation faresWe refer to the articles “Bus, train fares to go down” (The Straits Times, January 24) and “First of the cuts” (Today, January 24).
It is heartening to note that public transport operators (PTOs) are passing on the savings from Budget 2009 to all commuters, including the student and working population. In addition, we read with great interest the efforts made by the operators during the similar economic downturn in 1997 to alleviate the burden on Singaporeans.
These are exceptional times for all Singaporeans and this gesture by the PTOs is the right thing to do to reward fellow Singaporeans who have a played key role in the success of SMRT and SBS.
However, we wish to question the sustainability of this price reduction.
Is there expected to be a significant increase in transport fares once the economy recovers in the next one to three years? We cannot help but look back at the following statement in a Straits Times article dated 25 February 2005 – “New formula flexible on transport fare changes”. In this article, it was reported that “a proposed formula for calculating bus and train fares can bring reductions during an economic slowdown, but it can also give rise to bigger increments in bountiful years.”
More specifically,
would tertiary students be paying more than S$97 for a combined train and bus concession when the economy recovers?We would like to take this opportunity to make an
open appeal to the Public Transport Council (PTC), SBS, SMRT and Transitlink to commence feedback gathering sessions with this student group and fellow student bodies in Singapore during this fare adjustment period. This student group is also in contact with the various parties and is looking at arranging a meeting to
present its own fare proposal to the Public Transport Council, SBS Transit, SMRT Corp and Transitlink for consideration.This student group would like to see that perspectives of tertiary students are seriously considered in any future fare increases/ reductions. We would also like to achieve a new and fair formula for determining students’ concession and obtaining mutual understanding and benefits for both parties.
Thank you.
Bernard Chen
Organiser(s) of National Petition for Fairer Transportation Fares
for Polytechnic/ Tertiary Students
petition4fairtransport@gmail.com
Learner Driver =)
