and school buses

I By Minderjeet Kaur
mkour@nst.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Every time Shukor

Waheed travels from Bangsar to Petaling
Jaya new town by taxi, he forks out RM7.
From Aug 1, he will have to dig deeper into
his pockets and come up with RM14.
This is because fares for taxis, stage
buses and schoolbuses will go up from
that date.
And if he were to phone for a taxi to pick
him up, he will have to pay an additional
RMZ. Currently, the fee is only RM1.
Understandably, Shukor is unhappy. He
says he will have to take the Light Rail
Transit, or resort to car pooling, to ensure
that the transport fare hike announced yes-
terday by Minister in the Prime Minister's
Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri
Abdul Aziz does not hit him too hard.
Nazri, aware of such a reaction from
commuters, said the increase in fares was
inevitable. However. he said the authori-
ties would monitor bus and taxi operators
to ensure they provided a more efficient
service.
He said the new fares were fixed after
talks with various groups and public trans- Joyous reaction from taxi drivers after hearing the news that taxi fares will go up from Aug 1.
port operators. NST picture by Sairien Nafis
Nazri said those using tads would have to
-
pay RM3, instead of the present RM2, when Those taking stage buses will have to pay To make bus travel more comfortable, he
they board a taxi. They will have to pay 10 between RM1 and RM3.10. The fare now is said, the government had asked operators
sen for every subsequent 115 metres trav- between 75 sen and RM2.10. to install air-conditioning systems in all
'elled. Currently, they are charged 10 sen for However, the fares will be different in stage buses by next year.
every additional 150 metres travelled. different parts of the country and the Express buses will not be raising their
Parents will have to pay a minimum fare operators have been told to display the fares as they had done so at the end of
of RM27.43 plus RM2 for each subsequent fare structure clearly for the convenience last year.A trip from Kuala Lumpur to lpoh
kilometre in schoolbus fare. Now they pay of passengers.There will also be a differ-
a minimum of RM21.10 plus RM1.55 per ent fares for air-conditioned and non-air-
additional kilometre. conditioned buses. ! TURN TO PAGE 6, COL 1
No more extra 20.sor charge
tr FROM PAGE I
now costs RMfZ.+0, up from
theprevious RM13.40.
Nazri said to alleviate the
impact of the fare hike, the
government had asked ex-
press bus operators to offer a
25 per cent discount for the
disabled and those above 60
years ofage.
He said taxi operators had
been told to drop the exha
charge of 20 sen each for the
third and fourth passenger
and the RM1 charge for lug-
Bage.
Saying he was aware the
price hike would not go down
well with the public, the minis-
ter added: "It is not to burden
thepeople.
"But if we do not increase it, Zone 3
operators will lose money and I:
close shop.
"There might not be such
services anvmore."
Nazri saii this after handing MiniBus
over 800 taxi permits to taxi
drivers. There a.re about 8,000
individual taxi permit holders, (ah<onditionedl
while 24,000 taxis are owned
bycompanies.
The last fare increase was in
2005. Over the last few vears. (n"a:bylide)
...
bus and taxi operators" have
been clamouring for a fare tickets using the e-ticketing and taxi drivers would be
hike, saying operating costs system. asked to undergo haining to
-
including fu el and maintenance Theywill also have to switch improve road ethics.
gone up significantly. drivers after every four hours, "Those caught breaking
-had
Express bus operators, he or every 300kn oftravelling. road rules will be $ven three
said, had been told to use the Naai said a data bank warnings, after which we will
Global Positioning System to would be set up to keep hack blacklist them and cancel their
back their vehicles and to sell of drivers and operators. Bus business or driving permits. "