Sending your kids off by bus to school might cost you more next year, as the government is easing off regulations on schoolbus fares.
Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) chairman Syed Hamid Albar has announced that his agency has decided to be more flexible on the issue of schoolbus fares from January onwards – meaning schoolbus operators will no longer be bound by law to limit their rates to customers.
“This decision was made to ensure that the industry provides services of better quality, especially in terms of safety and comfort for students,” he said today, as quoted by The Star Online.
Just this January, the SPAD said it would not approve any hikes in schoobus fares.
The Federal Government backtracked on this decision in August, when it announced that it had approved a fare increase, following appeals by the Federation of Malaysian Schoolbus Operators, who had complained of an increase in the price of diesel.
Now, with diesel getting a further 20sen price hike, it seems likely that schoolbus operators will be asking for more from parents – and the Federal Government will have washed their hands of the matter.
