Bus and train fares to rise by 7% from December 28

This will boost the annual revenue of public transport operators by $132.5m.

The Public Transport Council (PTC) will raise bus and train fares by 7% effective 28 December, according to a media release.

Despite cost pressures from higher energy prices and local manpower wages, the PTC has granted fare concessions to certain commuter groups, increasing by $0.04 for seniors, lower wage workers, persons with disabilities (PWD) and students and $0.09 for adults per journey, according to a press release.

After the fare adjustments have become effective, adults are expected to pay about $1.48 for an average journey (10km), senior citizens and PWDs at $0.92, lower-wage workers at $1.14, students at $0.63. Fares of polytechnic and other diploma students will dip from the current $1.39 to $0.63.

In addition, PTC will extend student concessionary fare to polytechnic and other diploma students where they are said to have savings in card fares of up to $1.54 per journey. It also plans to SBS Transit and SMRT to contribute about $3.89m ($1.88m and $2.01m, respectively)
to the Public Transport Fund for lower-income households.

Bus and rail fares in Singapore are one of the most affordable in the world, with senior citizens enjoying the third cheapest fares in the world; adult fares at second cheapest and student fares as the world’s most affordable, the release added.

According to an analyst report by DBS Research, the fare adjustment translates into a $132.5m annual revenue increase for public transport operators with SBS Transit Rail and SMRT Train having $18.8m and $40.2m of annual revenue increases, respectively.

The report added that the 7% increase in fare added 3-4% to the FY2020 forecast on ComfortDelGro and will help reduce losses from Downtown Line (DTL) in the same period.