File photo of passengers purchasing tickets at the Sibu Express Bus Terminal. — Photo by Peter Boon
KUCHING (April 29): The Sarawak Bus Transport Companies Association (SBTCA) wants a fare adjustment to be carried out, but the government has yet to approve its request.
Its honorary secretary William Chan said the bus fares in Sarawak had not been revised since 2009, and their several requests for fare adjustment all these years had been futile.
He said the association had recently written another request letter to the federal Transport Ministry but they had not heard any good news.
“We have been fighting (for a fare adjustment) since 2009 but nothing (has been done).
“We have been writing to the state and federal ministers every year since 2010, asking for a systematic review,” he said when contacted yesterday.
In a letter to the federal Transport Ministry dated April 25, Chan said the last fare adjustment in Sarawak approved by the government was on Aug 1, 2009.
He said the fare approved more than 12 years ago could no longer keep up with inflation.
“Our members are bearing the heavy financial burden as a result. The drivers’ wages, spare parts, tyres and other operation costs have all risen to between 17 per cent and 50 per cent since 2009,” he said.
He said 30 bus companies were operating in Sarawak back in 2009, but only 12 of them survived up to last year.
Of the 18 bus companies that ceased operation, six were in Miri, three each in Kuching and Mukah, two each in Sibu and Bintulu, and once each in Limbang and Lawas.
Chan thus said bus companies in Sarawak needed a new fare revision soon to survive.
from Borneo Post Online https://ift.tt/p2bsBa1
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment