Public transport fare hike: Adult card fares to increase by 9 to 10 cents per ride from Dec 27

SINGAPORE: Adults will pay 9 to 10 cents more per journey for card fares on public buses and trains from Dec 27, the Public Transport Council (PTC) announced on Tuesday (Oct 14).

Overall, public transport fares will be hiked by 5 per cent overall, which is lower than last year’s 6 per cent increase.

For concession card journeys beyond 3.2km, fares will increase by 3 to 4 cents — also lower than last year’s increase of 4 cents per journey. 

More than a third – about 450,000 – of such journeys are currently 3.2km or shorter, commuting to school, work or nearby amenities, said the council in a press release.

Cash fares will also increase by 5 cents for students, 10 cents for seniors and those with disabilities, and 20 cents for adults and other commuters. 

This reflects the higher operating costs of handling cash, the PTC said, adding that less than 1 per cent of all public transport journeys were paid in cash and that such fares were last adjusted in 2023.

In a press conference on Tuesday, PTC chairperson Janet Ang said that while the council seeks to keep fares affordable in a system which sees an average ridership of over seven million daily, there are other considerations at play.

These include the wages of public transport workers, the increasing cost of operations and maintenance of the public transport network, and having sufficient resources to expand and improve the accessibility of the network, she said.

“The council recognises that any fair adjustments can be challenging for commuters in an economic climate of uncertainty. Hence, in the past few years, as you know, the council has not granted the maximum allowable fare quantum,” said Ms Ang.

PTC also announced that it will change the time period it looks at to calculate annual fare increases – the council previously looked at economic data from January to December in the previous year.

From the next fare review exercise onwards, the council will change its 12-month reference to the period spanning from the previous year’s July to June of the current year instead. 

This is so as to reduce the gap between the cost changes for operators and the adjustment of fares by six months, the PTC said. 

Fare changes are usually implemented in December after the annual fare review exercise, which meant that PTC’s decision would be based on data from at least a year ago.

To facilitate this shift, this year’s review will take in the 18-month stretch from January 2024 to June this year.

PTC chief executive Leow Yew Chin said during a press conference that the council had identified the time lag issue three years back.

“We could have done it earlier, but we were still studying the issues then. So I think this is a better time for us to do it, now after looking at the data available,” he said in response to a question from CNA.

OTHER FARE CHANGES

For the first time, the surcharge for express bus services will be raised. These services provide commuters with faster journeys from the heartlands to city areas and key employment centres.

Due to the higher costs of running such services and to improve financial sustainability, the PTC said it will increase their fare difference over basic adult bus and train fares by S$0.40 for adults and S$0.20 for concession groups, for card payments. For cash payments on these services, fares will be increased by S$0.60.

The difference in fares between express and basic services has not been adjusted since 2010.

It cost operators about 1.5 times more to operate express services, said Mr Leow.

“Hopefully, in doing so, the LTA will also have more room to introduce even more City Direct Services to benefit commuters," he said.

A lot more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/public-transport-fare-increase-rail-trains-buses-smrt-sbs-5400781

SMRT to be fined S$3 million for operational, maintenance lapses which led to East-West Line disruption

SINGAPORE: Public transport operator SMRT will be fined S$3 million (US$2.33 million) due to lapses which led to an incident and subsequent six-day disruption along the East-West Line in September 2024.

In a report released on Tuesday (Jun 3), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said these lapses included maintenance intervals being extended beyond stipulations, in part due to COVID-19 delays on new train arrivals.

A warning system that malfunctioned on the day of the incident also could have prevented the disruption, according to a report from the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) also released on Tuesday.

On Sep 25, a defective component known as an axle box dropped from a train and onto the tracks, causing a bogie - or an undercarriage with wheels - to come off the running rail between Dover and Clementi MRT stations.

This resulted in extensive damage to the tracks and other equipment, and disrupted MRT services along nine stations from Boon Lay to Queenstown. 

An estimated 500,000 out of 2.8 million train journeys were affected on each day, with train services resuming six days later on Oct 1.

BEFORE THE INCIDENT 

The train in the incident was among 66 in SMRT's first-generation KHI fleet which were rolled out in the late 1980s. They are progressively being replaced by new Movia trains.

Initially, 66 Movia trains were to be handed over to SMRT by March 2024, with the first batch in October 2021.

But due to the COVID-19 pandemic there was a delay of 1.5 years, and the first Movia train was only handed over in May 2023. 

Upon receiving the first Movia trains, SMRT began decommissioning the KHI trains.

But SMRT was required to continue carrying out regular maintenance for the KHI trains still in service, including preventive works and overhaul - which refers to a complete tear-down and rebuild to restore it to an "as-good-as-new" condition.

But by the time of the incident on Sep 25, 18 KHI trains had been overhauled, but the incident train was not among them.

The stipulated overhaul interval was 500,000km, but SMRT twice extended the interval: First to 575,000km in August 2022, and then to 750,000km in August 2024.

At the time of the incident, the train had logged 690,000km since its last overhaul in 2018. 

“These extensions were carried out based on SMRT’s internal procedures, and SMRT had relied on analysis of the performance of the KHI train fleet and their continued reliability in deciding on these extensions of the overhaul intervals for the incident train,” said LTA in its report.

The authority also noted that since axle box failures were not common, SMRT did not undertake a detailed engineering risk assessment on extending the axle box overhaul interval. 

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, president of SMRT Trains Lam Sheau Kai, said the operator's overhaul regime has served it well over the past 38 years. 

“What may have caught us off-guard this time was the convergence of factors - delays in new train deliveries due to COVID-19, our efforts to balance and adjust overhaul schedules, and the lag in receiving critical spare parts.”

He added that for “rare, black swan events like COVID-19”, it is important that transport operator SMRT and asset owner LTA come together to “reassess collectively”. 

“In hindsight, we could perhaps have exercised greater caution in how we managed the transition and decommissioning of the older trains,” he said.

Responding to queries from CNA, an LTA spokesperson said: "Learning from the incident, LTA will provide more time buffer in future procurement to mitigate against unforeseen supply chain disruptions." 

ON THE DAY ITSELF

The root cause of the axle box failure could not be determined as key train components involved were too badly burnt and damaged in the incident, said LTA. 

These parts were the axle box itself, which secures the wheels to the axle; the axle bearings, which reduce friction so the wheels spin smoothly; and the chevron springs which contain rubber to absorb shocks to keep the ride smooth. 

The axle box had dislodged from the third carriage of the train, causing extensive damage to the tracks.

A total of 46 rail breaks were identified in a 2.55km stretch between Dover station and stretching beyond Clementi station, which took days to repair. 

Both LTA and TSIB noted the incident could have been prevented with a more timely overhaul of the train systems. 

“Had the incident train been overhauled in a more timely manner, the condition of its axle box assemblies would have been checked and any degraded grease could have been replaced earlier,” said LTA. 

TSIB noted that SMRT’s experience was that the axle boxes had been problem-free when its trains were overhauled at 500,000 km.

“However, when the overhaul interval was stretched beyond 500,000 km, the quality of the axle boxes and chevron springs, as well as their components, were no more assured,” said TSIB.

Mr Lam from SMRT said similar axle box dislodgement incidents have occurred in other metro systems, but are not common. 

“These are extremely rare, sudden, and catastrophic incidents,” he said. “Even for those metros, such failures caught them off-guard due to their acute nature.

More at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/smrt-east-west-line-ewl-disruption-lta-3-million-fine-tsib-5163921

LTA has just unequivocally demonstrated how fucking inefficient it really is under the hood. Cheers!