Fare revenue collected by LTA fell 30% in FY2021 as public transport ridership slumped in pandemic

• Fare revenue collected by LTA for the latest financial year that closed end-March dropped by 30 per cent 
• Public transport ridership has dropped to its lowest levels in more than a decade due to the Covid-19 pandemic
• The authority’s overall operating income also fell by 12 per cent for the financial year
• The Government provided 25 per cent more in grants to LTA the year

SINGAPORE — Fare revenue collected by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) dropped by 30 per cent in the latest financial year as public transport ridership fell during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Figures in LTA’s latest annual report that was published on Thursday (Sept 30) showed that fare revenue collected was S$607 million for the financial year ended March 31 this year, down from S$862 million the previous financial year.

The latest financial year began on April 1 in 2020, just as the pandemic started to take a heavy toll on economic activity. Infection control restrictions kicked in on April 7 with a circuit breaker, when most people and workers were required to stay home, not using public transport.

Comparatively, the fare revenue of S$862 million in the previous financial year that ended on March 31 in 2020 had increased from S$834 million a year before that.

Recently updated data on LTA's website shows that during the tightened movement restrictions last year, bus and train ridership fell to their lowest levels in more than a decade.

Bus ridership fell 30 per cent to 2.88 million rides a day on average for the calendar year 2020, the lowest since 2006.

Transport Minister S Iswaran said on Monday last week that public transport ridership stood at about 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

FALL IN OPERATING INCOME

LTA’s overall operating income dropped by 12 per cent to S$1.64 billion for financial year 2020-2021.

Besides fare revenue, it gets its operating income from management fees from the Government, licence charges from the rail transit system and other sources.

Although management fees and licensing charges both saw an increase from the previous financial year, income from other operations dipped.

Management fees increased from S$676 million the previous financial year to S$717 million in the latest financial year.

Likewise, licensing charges increased from S$20 million the previous financial year to S$43 million in the latest financial year.

Income from other operations, on the other hand, fell by 10 per cent — from S$306 million the previous financial year to S$275 in the latest financial year.

INCREASE IN OPERATING EXPENDITURE

At the same time, the authority’s operating expenditure continued its climb over the last five years.

Expenditure for this financial year stood at S$4.59 billion, an increase of 5.7 per cent from the previous one.

Five years ago, in the 2017 financial year, this figure stood at S$2.72 billion.

MORE GRANTS FOR TRANSPORT SYSTEM

The Government provided 25 per cent more in grants to support the transport system this year at S$2.89 billion, up from S$2.31 billion the previous year.

It has been increasing the amount of grants to LTA over the last five years. In the 2017 financial year, the amount provided was S$1.23 billion.

The latest round of grants, however, helped to narrow LTA’s net deficit to S$16 million, 85 per cent less than the previous year’s deficit of S$107 million.