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Refunds made on 80
claims of distance errors
Letter from Eugene Tan
Secretary, Public Transport Council
Helen Lim
Deputy Director, Media Relations,
Land Transport Authority
WE REFER to Mr Stephen Tan Heng Chua’s
letter “Fare system misnomer”, (Aug 14) and
Mr Conrad Raj’s article “In a muddle over
fare changes” (Aug 16). Mr Raj argued that
the distance fares system is “inequitable”
as some commuters end up paying more
under Distance Fares. However, this does
not by itself make the new fare system
“inequitable”, as the basis by which they are
charged is the same as for other commuters.
Under distance fares, commuters pay
the same fare for the same distance travelled on the same mode of travel, regardless of whether they make transfers. This
is fairer to all commuters and corrects the
earlier inequity where commuters who
made transfers cross-subsidised those who
made direct journeys, because of the transfer penalty incurred.
Both Mr Tang and Mr Raj raised the
issue of the fare-setting principle under
distance fares. Under distance fares, fares
are calculated based on the distance of the
route that the bus or train takes to get to
a destination.
However, for certain rail trips, it is not
possible to determine a commuter’s actual route of travel on our rail network
as he does not tap in or out for a switch
between lines, and we therefore have to
make reasonable assumptions on what the
commuter behaviour would be.
Based on travel surveys that LTA has
done, commuters take into consideration
walking and waiting times when planning
their routes. Hence, the general principle
which we have adopted all along is for the rail
fares for such journeys to be set according to
the distance of the fastest route between the
origin and destination stations, rather than
any other alternatives. When we made the
change to distance fares this year, we retained
this fare-setting principle for rail travel.
Mr Raj also raised concerns about the
“many mistakes” relating to dataset errors.
To put the issue in perspective, 13 bus stop
pairs, which accounts for 0.2 per cent of the
6,600 bus stop pairs in the system, had data
distance errors.
These are teething problems which
have been rectified and action has been
taken to help prevent a recurrence.
The number of commuters affected is
likely to be small as only journeys that cross
over to the next fare band as a result of the
discrepancy are affected.
As at Aug 15, TransitLink has given
refunds to a total of 80 claims due to distance errors.
Further, contrary to Mr Raj’s claim,
there were in fact no errors on the Circle
Line and North East Line fares.
Commuters who have questions on
their fare calculations or need more information on how Distance Fares work
can call the LTA hotline at 1800-CALL LTA
(1-800-225-5582) for assistance.
Commuters can also check their fares
using the Distance Fares calculator on PublicTransport@SG (www.publictransport.sg)
or use Public Transport Journey Planner
(www.transitlink.com.sg) to check the various travel options to their destinations.
Why a commuter’s fare varied
Letter from Eugene Tan
Secretary, Public Transport Council
Helen Lim
Deputy Director, Media Relations,
Land Transport Authority
Guess what the freshest piece
of news from Down Under is.
WE REFER to Mr Juffrey Yusoff’s letter
“Same distance, 3 different fares” (Aug 16).
Mr Juffrey has highlighted that he was
charged different fares (between 0 and 4
cents) when he transferred to the same
bus trip of about 0.4 km on different occasions using different bus services. He also
mentioned a case where he was charged
71 cents for a trip of 2 km.
Under distance fares, fares are calculated based on the total cumulated distance
travelled in a journey. The distance fare
bands are 1 km after the first fare stage.
Hence, for an MRT-bus journey, the fare
charged for the bus leg can vary depending
on the distance already travelled on the
preceding MRT leg.
It can be zero if the additional bus trip
does not result in the journey distance
crossing over to the next fare band. If it does,
then the card fare for the air-conditioned
bus leg could range from 1 cent to 10 cents
for a 0.4 km trip, as in Mr Yusoff’s case.
To illustrate, the fare for a commuter
who starts his journey from Yio Chu Kang
MRT station to Ang Mo Kio MRT station is
71 cents for the 1.5 km distance travelled. As
he transfers to bus service 853 and alights
at the next bus stop travelling another 0.4
km, the total cumulated distance travelled
For an MRT-bus journey,
the fare charged for
the bus leg can vary
depending on the
distance already travelled
on the preceding MRT leg.
on the MRT and bus is 1.9 km. This is within
the first fare band of 3.2 km, and thus there
is no additional fare for the distance travelled by bus.
In comparison, the fare for a commuter
who starts his journey from Woodlands
MRT station to Ang Mo Kio MRT station is
$1.45 (for the 15 km distance travelled). He
then transfers to bus service 135, alighting
at the next bus stop after travelling 0.4 km.
The total cumulated distance is 15.4 km,
which crosses over to the next fare band
of 15.3 km. Hence, the fare of 4 cents is
payable for the distance travelled between
the two bus stops.
In the bus trip on bus service 162M mentioned by Mr Juffrey, this is not a transfer journey, and the air-conditioned bus trip of about
2 km is within the first fare band of 3.2 km,
for which a card fare of 71 cents is charged.
Commuters like Mr Juffrey who have
questions on their fare calculations under
Distance Fares can call the LTA hotline at
1800-CALL LTA (1-800-225-5582) for assistance.