新加坡

It will offer unlimited train and bus rides for $120 a monthEACH day, office manager Pamela Lee not only takes the train and bus from her Tiong Bahru home to her Boon Lay office, but she also often makes other journeys to run errands.存倉That takes her transport spending to more than $100 a month.But from April 6, a new monthly pass will give her unlimited rides on buses and trains for $120. The 49-year-old said she intends to apply for it. "It's worth it for me," she said.A similar pass for senior citizens is priced at $60.The adult pass, which targets heavy users of public transport such as Ms Lee, caps transport spending to $4 a day.The Transport Ministry believes that about 40,000 to 60,000 commuters will purchase the new pass. There are currently about 1.2 million beneficiaries of existing concession schemes.This is the first time the Government is stepping in to set the price of an adult monthly pass. At $120, the new pass is nearly 40 per cent cheaper than the $190 that commuters now have to pay for an ez-link season pass for unlimited train and bus rides.EZ-Link, a Land Transport Authority subsidiary, also offers a pass which permits four train rides and unlimited bus rides each day for $170.In its report last year, the Fare Review Mechanism Committee pointed out the 儲存eed for an unlimited pass to keep fares affordable for those who use public transport heavily, since they would bear the biggest brunt of any fare increase.The committee noted that the price of the ez-link pass was "unattractive". Its chairman Richard Magnus also suggested that average-income earners who spend $120 or more on public transport each month needed help.When asked whether $120 was the right price point for heavy users, Dr Park Byung Joon, head of the Urban Transport Management Programme at SIM University, said there is no "ideal amount".He noted that the monthly pass is effectively a concession scheme subsidised by regular commuters who pay the full fare. "There must be a social consensus first on how much these commuters should subsidise the heavy users."Software manager Raja Sekhar, 37, said he will not be applying for the pass. He takes the train daily between Tampines and Raffles Place on weekdays, spending an average of $3 a day and $100 each month."The pass is not worth it for me, but for people who spend $150 to $200 a month, it's definitely beneficial," he added.All Singaporeans and permanent residents can apply online or in person at TransitLink at Maxwell Road for the pass from March 6, which takes effect from April 6 when fares go up.roysim@sph.com.sg迷你倉