KUALA LUMPUR: The government yesterday fixed a 30 per cent surcharge on stage and express bus fares for the Hari Raya season effective for one month from Sept 15.

Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister Datuk Noh Omar said this was a temporary measure before the ministry could decide on the request for fare increase by bus operators.

“The temporary surcharge on bus fares is to reduce the bus operators’ operational costs after taking into consideration their woes and the views and feedback from various quarters,” he told reporters at the parliament lobby, here yesterday.

Noh said this temporary measure was not new as it had been implemented before with a surcharge of RM3 on bus tickets for express buses only.

He said 2,000 temporary licences for imposing the surcharge would be issued and applications could be made at the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board’s (CVLB) offices.

“Buses that are allowed to be used as additional expresses buses are stage buses, chartered buses, school buses and factory buses that are not more than 12 years old.”

Noh said the CVLB and enforcement agency would carry out integrated operations on highways and at bus terminals, including monitoring the sale of tickets at the counters to ensure that bus company staff were not in cahoots with touts to indiscriminately hike bus fares.

He said for public convenience, RapidKL would be providing feeder bus service from the Puduraya bus terminal to the Duta bus terminal and Bukit Jalil Sports Complex with a fare of RM3 for a one-way trip.

Noh also said that the government had agreed to liberalise the express bus service by introducing the Premier Class while retaining the Economy and Executive-class services.

“The classification of services is based on the fare charged, passenger capacity and facilities provided.

“The fare for the Economy service is controlled by the government to protect the interest of users, especially the low-income group,” he added.

— Bernama