BUS operators are expected to refund some S$300,000 to commuters
who have been overcharged in fares due to errors in measuring
distances between bus stops, the Land Transport Authority (LTA)
announced yesterday.
A nationwide review, conducted from August to October, found
that bus commuters travelling between 68 pairs of bus stops have
been overcharged since the new distance-based fare system was
introduced in July.
LTA said an estimated 337,000 out of 24.24 million journeys - or
1.4 per cent - are affected every week.
On average, affected commuters have been overcharged by about
$0.04 more per journey for the past five months.
Affected commuters had between 200m and 1.4km added to their
actual travelled distances, with the biggest discrepancy between
the bus-stop at Raffles Country Club in Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim and the
one at Pasir Laba Camp in Jurong for services 182 and 182M.
The review also found 30 bus-stop pairs, or 0.45 per cent of
total bus-stop pairs, which have led to undercharging. Around
104,000 journeys per week are affected, with some commuters being
undercharged an average of $0.05 a week - a total of $100,000.
A total of 149 services run by bus operators SMRT and SBS
Transit are affected by the errors. The new distance-based fare
system, launched on July 3, has invited controversy since its
introduction, with commuters protesting that they had to pay higher
fares after its introduction.
LTA's review was conducted following feedback from commuters,
which led to the LTA discovering distance discrepancies in 13 pairs
of bus stops in August.
The errors for these 13 pairs of bus stops have since been
corrected, with 180 commuters coming forward with claims.
The LTA will begin correcting the distances between all 98
bus-stop pairs from tomorrow. Work is expected to be completed by
Friday.
Mr Chew Hock Yong, LTA's chief executive, explained that the
distance errors stemmed from mistakes made in measuring the
distance between bus stops.
When the authorities implemented the distance-based fare system,
they had used information given out by both bus operators.
However, the information had not been updated. Operators had not
taken into account factors such as road works and bus-route
changes, which might have led to some bus stops being moved, he
said.
SBS Transit and SMRT have apologised for the errors.
"We sincerely apologise to the commuting public for this error
and any inconvenience caused," said Mr Chew. v Both operators will
not face any penalties this time round, said Mr Chew, noting that
they were writing off the fares that were undercharged.
The Public Transport Council (PTC) will ensure that busstop
distances are updated correctly by bus operators every three months
or so, he said. A failure to do so would result in fines of up to
$100,000 under the PTC Act.
Commuters can log on to LTA's [email protected] website today
to check if their bus services were among those affected.
from asiaone