Is the recent public transport fare hike justified?

THE resentment and number of complaints regarding the hike of public transport fare has shot through the roof recently.

Personally, I am not a regular user of public transport for the same reasons as most of the driving community. It is time consuming, has limited destinations and is also unsafe.

Consumers are aware that cost of living is rising and the said hike is inevitable. But consumers are, at least expecting improvements, not the opposite.

For instance, the change of route coupled with the rising fares may only do good for newly developed areas and the railway company, but it is causing inconvenience to passengers of other “older” areas.

We hope that railway companies and the government will listen to public needs and demands before announcing any “surprise” to the public.

To be fair, the consistency of trains has greatly improved in recent years. We should not expect late arrivals and delays, especially when it comes to train services.

Another issue is how people actually get to the train stations. We have not seen any studies on the methods the public use to get to the train station.

If the station is not within walking distance, public/feeder buses should be deployed to pick up passengers from residential areas and to drop them off at the train station and vice-versa.

We sincerely hope that the money paid for the price increase will create higher standards and quality for the public transport system in Malaysia.

Jason Tee Wai Kit

Petaling Jaya