Up to 13 cents more: Adult bus, train fares to increase from Dec 26

Bus and train fares for adult commuters paying by card will increase by 12 to 13 cents from Dec 26, following the yearly fare review exercise by the Public Transport Council (PTC).

A 12-cent increase will apply to public transport journeys of up to 3.2km, meaning the new baseline adult card fare will be $1.40.

Meanwhile, trips farther than 3.2km will see a 13-cent price increase from the current fare.

Commuters in concession groups, including students, seniors and people with disabilities, will also have their fares increase by 5 cents.

Cash payments, which make up less than 1 per cent of all journeys, will see fares increase by 20 cents for adult commuters and 10 cents for concession holders.

Overall, the fare adjustment for the year is 7 per cent — less than half of the maximum allowable 14.7 per cent quantum, PTC noted. The remaining 7.7 percentage points will be carried forward to future fare review exercises.

This is the largest overall fare adjustment since 2023, when fares were also raised by 7 per cent.

At a media conference on Tuesday (Sept 29), PTC chairperson Janet Ang said the biggest contributing factor to the higher fare formula output was the sharp increase in energy prices arising from the Middle East conflict.

Between July 2025 and June 2026, energy prices rose sharply by an average of 21 per cent across the 12 months, she revealed.

"We recognise that commuters are managing increases in their day-to-day expenses, and we therefore wanted to avoid imposing the full adjustment (of 14.7 per cent) at one go," Ang said.

The deferred fare quantum after this exercise stands at 7.7 per cent, with the Government providing close to $200 million in additional subsidies in 2027 to cover the deferred fare adjustment quantum.

Ang said the PTC has consistently sought to give more support to concession groups, which make up about 2 million individual riders, and frequent public transport users.

The price of monthly travel passes will also remain unchanged, after some monthly pass prices were reduced by up to 5 per cent in 2025. About 126,000 commuters are currently monthly pass users.

Based on data collected by PTC, about 110,000 additional commuters could reduce their transport costs if they switch to using a monthly travel pass after the new fares take effect, with average savings of about $26 a month.

Additionally, about 190,000 lower-income individuals on the Workfare Transport Concession Scheme (WTCS) will continue to pay existing fares, with no change to their card fares.

As with past fare increases, public transport operators are required to contribute to the Public Transport Fund.

SBS Transit Rail and SMRT Trains will have to contribute 30 per cent of their expected increase in fare revenue for the 2026 review exercise, said PTC. Their combined contribution will amount to $23.94 million.

"In determining this year's fare adjustment, PTC sought to keep the increase manageable for commuters, while balancing the need to sustain the quality and reliability of our public transport system in the face of higher costs," Ang said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Ultimately, our responsibility is to keep public transport affordable for commuters today, while ensuring that our public transport system is of high-quality and is financially sustainable for the years ahead."

lim.kewei@asiaone.com

根据公共交通委员会 (PTC) 的年度票价审查，从 12 月 26 日起，成人通勤者使用银行卡支付的公交车和火车票价将上涨 12 至 13 分。

公共交通行程（3.2公里以内）票价将上涨12美分，这意味着新的成人基本票价将为1.40美元。

同时，超过 3.2 公里的行程票价将比目前的价格上涨 13 分。

包括学生、老年人和残疾人在内的优惠群体乘客的票价也将上涨 5 分。

现金支付的出行量占比不到 1%，成人通勤者的票价将上涨 20 分，优惠票持有者的票价将上涨 10 分。

PTC指出，全年票价调整幅度为7%，不到最高允许幅度14.7%的一半。剩余的7.7个百分点将结转至未来的票价调整中。

这是自 2023 年以来最大的票价调整幅度，2023 年票价也上涨了 7%。

在周二（9 月 29 日）举行的新闻发布会上，PTC 主席 Janet Ang 表示，导致票价公式计算结果上涨的最大因素是中东冲突引发的能源价格急剧上涨。

她透露，2025 年 7 月至 2026 年 6 月期间，能源价格大幅上涨，12 个月内平均上涨了 21%。

“我们意识到通勤者正在应对日常开支的增加，因此我们希望避免一次性实施全部调整（14.7%），”Ang说。

此次调整后，延期票价调整幅度为 7.7%，政府将在 2027 年提供近 2 亿美元的额外补贴，以弥补延期票价调整的幅度。

Ang表示，公共交通委员会一直致力于为特许经营团体提供更多支持，这些团体约有200万名乘客和经常乘坐公共交通工具的用户。

月票价格也将保持不变，此前部分月票价格已于 2025 年下调至多 5%。目前约有 12.6 万通勤者使用月票。

根据 PTC 收集的数据，如果新票价生效后，约有 11 万名通勤者改用月票，可以降低交通成本，平均每月可节省约 26 美元。

此外，约 19 万名参加工作福利交通优惠计划 (WTCS) 的低收入人士将继续支付现有票价，其卡票价不会发生变化。

与以往的票价上涨一样，公共交通运营商需要向公共交通基金缴款。

公共交通委员会（PTC）表示，新捷运铁路（SBS Transit Rail）和SMRT地铁公司需在2026年票价审查中，贡献其预期票价收入增长的30%。两家公司合计需贡献2394万新元。

“在决定今年的票价调整时，公共交通委员会力求使涨幅在通勤者可承受的范围内，同时在成本上涨的情况下，兼顾维持公共交通系统的质量和可靠性，”Ang周二在一份声明中表示。

“归根结底，我们的责任是既要保证通勤者能够负担得起公共交通，又要确保我们的公共交通系统在未来几年内保持高质量和财务可持续性。”

lim.kewei@asiaone.com