Under fire, KTMB chief says trains packed despite fare hike
Under fire for the recent Komuter fare hike announcement, KTMB chairperson Nawawi Ahmad today said packed trains with higher fares have little impact on passengers.
KTMB recently announced fare hike of about 4 sen per kilometre - resulting in a hike of up to 58 percent for some routes, starting Dec 2.
"The higher the fares, the more packed the trains are. This means it has no impact," Nawawi said when asked on his Facebook page.
Nawawi, who is Langkawi MP, was responding to complaints by passengers on his Facebook page.
He also brushed off appeals that the fare hikes could alienate urban and young voters.
"It matters, even if the trains are packed despite fare changes," Facebook user Nabieh Rahmat told him.
To this, Nawawi replied: "BN will definitely lose in urban areas.
"Socio-politically speaking, this means nothing in terms of parliamentary seat."
He also reasoned that KTMB has to raise fares to pay its staff.
"Think logically, we have staff to pay and they need to feed their wives and children," he pleaded.
Komuter, Monorail, and LRT fares went up by up to 102 percent depending on routes, starting Dec 2.
This comes after toll rates at 15 Klang Valley highways went up by up to 100 percent on Oct 15.
Earlier, Minister of Housing, Local Government and Urban Well-being Abdul Rahman Dahlan said there are still alternative routes for commuters.
This would include "investing time" to leave home earlier to use trunk roads and not tolled highways to commute to work.
Criticising Abdul Rahman, consumer advocate Muhammad Shaani Abdullah said the new fares makes it cheaper to drive a MyVi instead of taking rail public transport.
However, Malaysiakini's checks found that this depends on the distance of the journey.
The portal also found that while fuel costs is indeed cheaper, driving incurs additional costs like tolls, parking, hire-purchase loan installments and maintenance.
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