Malaysian express bus company Konsortium Transnasional Bhd (Transnasional) has been ticked off for not waiting for the “right time” to increase its fares.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) president Marimuthu Nadason said the rakyat, especially those from the lower-income bracket, have suffered a lot this year as many items and services have gone up in prices.

"It's not the right time. When the time is right, then you raise, it's okay.

"But things are very bad for consumers now because everything has gone up," Marimuthu said to Malaysiakini .

He was responding to Transnasional appealing to the government for what the company called a long overdue fare increment , citing increased cost of operations.

Transnasional is a key player in the express bus industry; its fleet covers major cities and towns in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.

Not only that, Marimuthu said key performance indicators (KPIs) must be set and express bus services must meet them.

Among the KPIs he suggested was the condition of the buses, as well as the performance of the bus drivers themselves.

"(Right now) during public holidays, a three-hour journey from Kuala Lumpur to Taiping can turn into a seven-hour ride. Can you avoid all that systematically?

"Just because costs have gone up, you expect us to pay for these substandard services," he added.

The Land Public Transport Commission (Spad), he said, must not give its green light for the fare hike.

It was reported yesterday that Transnasional wanted to increase its fare, in light of the rising costs of operations due to the depreciation of the ringgit and the impact of the Goods and Services Tax.

"The cost of operations, including maintenance and spare parts, keeps increasing but we are not passing the cost to consumers," managing director Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh had said, without disclosing the extent of the cost increase as the company is still working out the numbers.