SBS Transit to Extend $5.5 Million in Assistance to Reduce Impact of Fare Increases on Lower Income Households

• Will make a $5.5 million contribution to the Public Transport Fund which provides assistance to lower-income households.
• No change in prices for all existing monthly concession passes, senior citizen card and cash fares, as well as student cash fares.
• No change to free travel for children under seven years old.
• Student card fares to increase by 1 cent.
• Adult card fares to increase by 2-5 cents depending on distance travelled.
• Adult cash fares to increase by 10 cents.
• Net effect is a 2.8% increase in fares.

21 January 2015 - The Public Transport Council (PTC) today announced fare revisions for bus and train fares which will come into effect on 5 April 2015.

Under the new fare structure, adult card fares will increase by 2 to 5 cents while adult cash and single trip fares will rise by 10 cents. Student card fares will increase by 1 cent while student cash fares will remain unchanged. Senior citizen card and cash fares, as well as all monthly concession passes will remain unchanged.

All full-time polytechnic and tertiary students who receive sponsorship for their studies will now enjoy concessionary travel which will be effective from today.

With the introduction of adult monthly concession passes for both bus and train travel, SBS Transit will be withdrawing its SeasonPass which was launched in 2006 to offer unlimited bus rides.

To mitigate the impact of the fare changes on the lower-income households, SBS Transit will contribute $5.5 million to the Public Transport Fund.

SBS Transit Chief Executive Officer, Mr Gan Juay Kiat, said: "Despite the drop in fuel prices, our operating costs such as manpower, repairs and maintenance and depreciation remain high. Staff costs are also building up on the Downtown Line as we gear up for the opening of Phase Two of the network in early 2016. The fare increase announced today by the PTC will help us to alleviate some of these cost pressures."

"At the same time, we recognise that a group of commuters may be more affected by this fare adjustment. To assist this group of needy commuters, we will be contributing $5.5 million to help provide some relief through the Public Transport Fund."

To ensure more comfortable rides for our commuters, SBS Transit continues to invest in new buses for our fleet replacement and growth. In 2012, we placed a $433 million order for 1,000 new buses for delivery over three years. In July last year, we placed yet another order for 665 new buses at a cost of $311 million

We have also added more trips to our rail network to cater to rising ridership. In 2014, 1,270 weekly trips have been added to the Sengkang and Punggol Light Rail Transit networks. To meet rising demand, we opened three stations of the Punggol West Loop for passenger services in June 2014. On the North East Line, we have been operating additional trains across the peak and off-peak hours throughout the day to reduce waiting time, resulting in an increase of more than 450 weekly trips.

Commuters will be informed of the new fares through various channels including posters, leaflets and SBS Transit and TransitLink websites.