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SINGAPORE: The Public Transport Council said calculating transport fares based on distance travelled is meant to be fairer for the majority of commuters.
Its chairman Gerard Ee said those who make long journeys have already benefited from relatively low fares over the years.
The new Distance Fares system has drawn mixed reaction from those who take public transport.
One commuter said: "It seems cheaper for me because I usually take transfers."
"Unless I go to Yishun, Woodlands or Bishan and I transfer, then it’s worth it. If it’s one-shot distance, then it’s very expensive,” said another commuter.
While some 60 per cent of commuters would see savings in their weekly fare expenditure, one in three would pay more.
This could be because they rarely made transfers previously so they do not benefit from the removal of the transfer penalty.
Chairman of the Public Transport Council Gerard Ee, said: "The bottomline is, it's never acceptable to have to pay more. And the more that you have to pay, of course, you feel dissatisfied with it. And it is a major change, especially those whose journey is very long.
“Let's say if your journey happens to be from one end of the island to the other, all these years you've benefited from paying relatively low fare, and once we go into distance-based, of course it becomes a bit of a shock. But distanced-based, will generally be a fairer principle and a fairer basis for the majority of the commuters."
The council said Distance Fares also complements the evolving public transport network.
Mr Ee said: "Once upon a time, people may not make transfers. For example, one may travel from Bishan all the way down to City Hall, and then go to Kembangan. Now with the Circle Line, they can change the journey. So actually as more stations are introduced and come on stream, travel patterns will change."
For now, it seems Distance Fares is here to stay.
Mr Ee said it'll take time for the system to stabilise and the council will re-look the situation when it does a fare review next year. - CNA/vm
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