Parents with school-going children fork out extra sum to pay bus fare

PARENTS in Ipoh are up in arms over the steep increase of the school bus fare since the start of the new school year.

There have been complaints from parents that bus fares have increased by RM10 to RM20, depending on the areas in the city.

An administrative clerk, who only wanted to be known as Sherene, said the steep increase was a shocker, as it had never been higher than RM5.

“In the last few years, the fare had been increased only by RM5.

“I am comfortable with the RM5 hike but pushing it up to RM10 is too much,” she told The Star.

“I have to pay RM70 each month,” said Sherene, in her 40s, who is from Buntong.

Sherene said she had voiced her grouses to the school bus driver and was told that the bus operators had no choice.

“They are also following directives from their employers and associations.

“He said they were running a business and needed to survive,” she said.

She added that she had no choice but to cough out the amount for the sake of her daughter, who goes to SMK Menglembu, as both she and her husband worked full-time.

“With the electricity tariff going up, everything else, including foodstuff prices are also increasing.

“Everyone is taking advantage of the recent hike for their own gain,” she said.

It was reported recently that many school bus operators in the country had increased their fare despite the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) rejecting the operators’ application to do so.

Federation of Malaysian School Bus Operators Association secretary-general Md Saad Mohamad was quoted saying that bus operators could not wait for SPAD to announce its new school bus fare scheme.

Secretary Connie Vivian said she too had no choice but to pay the increased fare from RM70 to RM80.

“I have two children taking the school bus; so I am now forking out RM160,” said Vivian from Tanjung Rambutan.

“My husband and I work full-time. We have no choice but to pay the increased fare even if it means to fork out RM90 per person,” she said, adding that the bus driver was the only available driver in the area.

The mother of four added that the bus driver had informed her about the changes, noting that the hike was unavoidable.

“The bus driver was telling me that they don’t get paid on certain months, like during the school semester breaks,” she said.

“That few months of not getting paid will set them back financially as they need to maintain their vehicles and to cover other expenditures,” she added.

A Perak School Bus Association spokesman said the hike was unavoidable and it needed to be done as cost for maintaining the roadworthiness of vehicles was getting high.

“We had informed the parents on the fare increase before school reopened. There was no objection then,” he said.

A school bus operator, who only wished to be known as Lau, said competition was also high among operators.

“We have to compete also with drivers of school vans.

“These operators are affecting our businesses and we have less passengers now,” he said.

Lau, in his late 50s, said he had considered quitting the business.

“I have two buses, one has been on the road for about 30 years while another, 20 years.

“The older vehicle will no longer be roadworthy. I hope to sell off the other one.

“Had I known that this line was such a hard business to look after, I would have switched to another profession,” added Lau.