Fare perks for senior citizens on SMRT rides
Older ez-link users exempt from fare hikes for now; wider concessions
OLDER Singaporeans who use ez-link cards will be exempt from the one-cent fare increase on SMRT trains and buses until July next year.
They will also have full-day concessions at weekends and longer concession hours on weekdays.
The move will cost the company about $1.5 million a year, but will benefit senior citizens, who account for about 90,000 trips a day on the company's network, SMRT said yesterday.
SMRT runs the north-south and east-west MRT lines, as well as Bukit Panjang LRT.
Senior citizens will still have to bear the fare increases on SBS Transit buses, as well as its north-east MRT line and the Sengkang and Punggol LRT lines. But SBS spokesman Tammy Tan was quick to point out that SBS still has longer concession hours for seniors. Weekday concessions on SBS run from 9am until the end of operations.
SMRT's new concession period runs from 9am to 4.30pm, and after 7pm. The current hours are from 10am to 4pm, and after 7pm.
SBS's Ms Tan said: 'We don't need senior citizens to rush home before 4.30pm or stay out beyond 7pm so as to pay concession fares.'
SMRT chief executive officer Saw Phaik Hwa told reporters the company still wanted to encourage seniors to travel during off-peak hours, if they had a choice. At these times they save on average 58 cents per trip on trains and 14 cents on buses.
She said: 'The peak loading is very high, for the trains especially. For senior citizens to travel during that period is not exactly the best thing.'
SMRT will not follow SBS and cap the maximum fare for a single bus journey at $1.90, regardless of the number of transfers between buses.
'The fares are still highly affordable,' Ms Saw said.
SMRT's move follows SBS Transit's announcement on Monday that the Public Transport Council (PTC) had approved an increase of one to three cents a ride for adult ez-link cardholders from July 1, and 10 cents for those who use cash or buy single-trip tickets.
The PTC allowed the maximum 2.4 per cent increase under a new fare adjustment formula that takes into account current economic conditions.
The council said SMRT had initially asked for more than the 2.4 per cent cap, but was told to send in a new proposal which fell within the limit.
Both operators are contributing $1 million each to a $4 million welfare fund to offset the increases for the needy. In all, SBS Transit will hand out $3.3 million and SMRT $2.5 million in assorted concessions, waivers and fare caps.
Consumers Association of Singapore executive director, Mr Seah Seng Choon, said that, while the association welcomed the fund, it was 'a little bit disappointed that the PTC allowed the maximum increase'.
'If there is first class service, transport owners can expect a first class fee,' Mr Seah said. 'However, if the fare increase does not result in better services, whether they are in the black or in the red, that is a management issue which the companies have to address.'
Mr Phua Kok Tee, chief executive of the Singapore Action Group of Elders, whose 2,500 members are aged between 60 and 85, said SMRT had 'gone one better' by not imposing a fare increase. But he urged SMRT to extend concession hours to peak periods.
