JOHOR BARU: Competitive fares will be crucial to ensuring the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) link attracts enough daily commuters to help ease congestion on the Causeway, says a Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) senior lecturer.
UTM Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying senior lecturer Dr Safizahanin Mokhtar said fares for Malaysians commuting to Singapore should be affordable while remaining competitive with existing cross-border transport options.
She said transport affordability studies generally suggested that fares should not exceed 5% to 8% of a user’s monthly income, while the World Bank’s transport affordability index placed the threshold at 10%.
“For Malaysian workers commuting to Singapore, a reasonable daily allocation would be around S$7 to S$9 (RM22 to RM28) for a return trip, depending on their income, occupation and professional level,” she said here yesterday.
Safizahanin said previously projected one-way RTS fares of between S$5 (RM15) and S$7 (RM22) could make the service less competitive than existing alternatives, including buses, the KTM Shuttle Tebrau, taxis and e-hailing services.
She said buses currently cost about S$3.50 (RM11.18) to S$5 (RM15.97), while the KTM Shuttle Tebrau fare is RM10.
Although the RTS would offer greater comfort and shorter travel times, higher fares could limit its appeal mainly to professionals and business travellers, she said.
“Lower-income and semi-skilled workers may continue to choose buses or private vehicles if the RTS fare is significantly higher,” she said.
She proposed a hybrid cost-recovery model, with fares covering about 65% to 75% of operating costs and the remaining 25% to 35% supported through government subsidies from Malaysia and Singapore.
Safizahanin said an initial basic fare of around S$3.50 to S$4, coupled with monthly passes and other fare structures, could help the RTS achieve a higher load factor and stabilise its financial operations as passenger numbers grow.
She warned that significantly higher fares could result in a much smaller modal shift, with only 150,000 to 180,000 daily users compared with the 300,000-user target.
This could reduce the RTS’ impact on Causeway congestion, with the reduction in vehicles estimated at only 10% to 15%, compared with 40% to 50% under an optimal fare structure.
Meanwhile, state public works, transport, infrastructure and communications committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said discussions on the RTS fare structure did not currently involve the Johor government.
“I only hope that the fare will be reasonable so that it becomes a choice for daily users,” he said.
