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SINGAPORE: Transport Minister Raymond Lim has defended the new distance-based fare structure for public buses and MRT trains as a good concept that will lead to a fairer system. He said the issue now is in its implementation.
Mr Lim was replying to a host of questions from MPs in Parliament on Monday.
He explained that previously, commuters making transfer journeys were effectively paying more to keep the fares lower for commuters who took direct trips.
Mr Lim said the Public Transport Council (PTC) has now removed this cross-subsidy or transfer penalty so that all commuters pay the same fare for the same distance travelled.
In this way, commuters could choose the best way to reach their destination without having to worry about paying extra if they make a transfer.
Mr Lim also told the House that overall, the transport operators have borne a permanent reduction in fare revenue of about S$88 million per year, as a result of distance fares.
For the remainder of the costs, the PTC has the unenviable task of distributing the costs among the various commuter groups.
These include direct and transfer travellers, short and long distance travellers as well as adults, senior citizens and children.
Mr Lim stressed that if the PTC lowered the costs for one commuter group, another group would have to pay more.
If fares were to be lowered for commuters travelling long distances, it would mean that the fares for another group of commuters who travel shorter distances would go up.
The transport minister also replied to a question on whether surveys were conducted to validate the projected impact analysis since the system was introduced.
Mr Lim said the PTC has conducted a post-implementation validation exercise, using the actual fare data collected in July under Distance Fares.
In all, the PTC took data from 24 million journeys made over a one-week period.
Mr Lim said the exercise confirmed that the impact of Distance Fares on commuters is very close to what the PTC had expected.
Overall, 68 per cent of all commuters saw average weekly fare savings under Distance Fares.
That's slightly above the 63 per cent originally projected.
"This may indicate that some commuters have already started to optimise their journeys by taking advantage of the flexibility under Distance Fares to choose less circuitous routes to their destinations," said Mr Lim. -CNA/vm
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