Public transport vouchers and S$13.5 million contribution to public transport fund announced

SINGAPORE — To help lower-income households cope with the fare increases, the Government said it will draw down S$7.5 million from the Public Transport Fund to fund 250,000 public transport vouchers.

SBS Transit yesterday also announced a S$5.5 million contribution to the Public Transport Fund, while SMRT will contribute S$8 million.

The fare hike will mean an increase of 2 to 5 cents for adult card fares for buses and trains per journey, 10 cents for adult cash fares, and 1 cent for student concessionary card fares.

The public transport vouchers, which will be distributed throughout the year, are worth S$30 each and can be used to purchase top up fare cards or buy monthly concession passes, said the People’s Association (PA) and Ministry of Transport (MOT) in a release.

Applications for vouchers will start from March 16, and can be made at local community centres. Each household will receive one voucher upon successful application, however Citizen’s Consultative Committees may exercise discretion to provide addition vouchers to households “whom they deem need more help”, the release said.

SBS Transit will be contributing to the fund “to mitigate the impact of the fare changes on the lower-income households”, the company said in a separate media release. 

Despite the drop in fuel prices, SBS Transit said operating costs remain high. The fare increase by the PTC is expected to help “alleviate some of the cost pressures” of the building of the Downtown Line as well as operating costs, said SBS Transit Chief Executive Officer Gan Juay Kiat.

“At the same time, we recognise that a group of commuters may be more affected by this fare adjustment,” he said.