‘Fare Adjustment, not Fair Adjustment’: Singaporeans unhappy over 12- to 13-cent fare hike from Dec 26
SINGAPORE: On Tuesday (Sep 29), the Public Transport Council (PTC) announced that from Dec 26, 2026, public transport fares will increase by 7%.
According to the PTC, the reason it used a higher fare formula compared to last year is the substantial increase in energy prices between July 2025 and June 2026 due to the Middle East conflict.
Adult card users on public transport will see higher fares of 12 to 13 cents, while seniors, students, and persons with disabilities will pay 5 cents more.
However, individuals under the Workfare Transport Concession Scheme (WTCS) will have no change in their card fares, with the government absorbing the adjustment for 190,000 WTCS cardholders.
As for cash fares, adults will pay 20 cents more, and students, seniors and persons with disabilities will pay an additional 10 cents.
There will be no change in the cost of monthly passes for all categories.
“PTC is aware that every fare adjustment matters to commuters, especially when households are managing higher day-to-day expenses. This decision was therefore not one we took lightly. In determining this year’s fare adjustment, PTC sought to keep the increase manageable for commuters, while balancing the need to sustain the quality and reliability of our public transport system in the face of higher costs,” said council chair Janet Ang.
What Singaporeans are saying
Perhaps unsurprisingly, many Singaporeans expressed dismay at PTC’s announcement, as it comes on the heels of higher inflation. In August, core inflation was at almost a two-year high of 2.2%, with food inflation at 2.3% and electricity and gas inflation at 8.7% because of earlier global energy price spikes.
“It's called Fare Adjustment, not Fair Adjustment,” a Facebook user wrote.
“Salary increase so much liao still got face to increase fares,” added another.
One asked, “What will be the next increase in items on the pipeline?”
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On Reddit, a user on the platform wrote a post titled, “We keep making cars harder to own, but public transport fares keep going up.”
“We are already paying for a large part of the system through taxes, and then when operating costs increase, commuters are also asked to pay more through higher fares,” the post author noted, adding, “fares have already been increasing every year since 2021. Each individual increase can always be described as a few cents, but after enough years that starts to add up.” /TISG