THE MAIN body representing the interests of school bus operators across the country has attributed the spiralling costs of vehicle repairs and spare parts as key contributing factors to an imminent move by the companies to raise fares for pupils.
The Federation of School Bus Associations Malaysia was recently reported to have indicated that fares for the new school term in March are expected to increase.
Elaborating on this, its president Amali Munif Rahmat suggested that a free school bus system be introduced by the government to prevent the rates from rising due to market factors, so as to ease the financial hardship placed on parents.
He was reported by Sinar Harian as saying that the free system is successfully implemented in some developed countries like Australia and Britain.
"The only way to reduce the burden on parents as a result of any increase in rates is for the government to bear the costs of school fares as has been done in Kuala Lumpur, at Public Housing Project (PPA) and People's Housing Project (PPR) areas there.
"Those who live and own homes in PPA and PPR estates, their children who go to government schools, would be automatically registered with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), and be entitled to free school bus service for daily trips to and from home," he said.
It is understood that this system, involving more than 100 school bus operators in the capital city, was started six years ago.
"Even in Miri and Kuching, in Sarawak, this method has already been implemented. There it is managed by the local authorities with the cost of fare for every student borne by the local government of the area concerned," he said.
Amali explained that the increase in fares is bound to occur due to the escalating costs of operating and maintaining vehicle machinery, especially at urban areas in the Klang Valley.
"It is likely that there will be a price increase for the new term, but I am not sure how much it will be because it varies according to the operators themselves,” he was quoted as saying by Sinar Harian.
“They have to take into account their business margins and the current circumstances."
According to him, another factor that is forcing the fares to be increased is that vehicle spare parts are becoming more expensive.
He said that more than 80% of the parts are imported from overseas.
For example, the price of a certain spare part that used to be RM100 would now have gone up to between RM120 and RM150.
This problem of cost, which is reviewed based on monthly maintenance, is compounded by the fact that the ringgit has weakened considerably against global currencies.
"We also need to change the engine oil regularly, and need to see how far the bus travels every month.
“The running of each bus is not the same among all operators. Some of them even have to pay for parking or they would be fined," he explained.
Amali said the trend of fare increase happened after the government no longer regulated school bus fares and let the companies follow market conditions since January 2015.
The association can only give advice and guidelines to the operators, but they eventually have to take into account their profit-and-loss conditions, as well as the consensus with parents, he said.
Amali was quoted as saying yesterday that parents, especially those in the Klang Valley, should anticipate a monthly rise in fares by between RM10 and RM20.
He also attributed the decision to the implementation of the minimum wage of RM1,500 in July last year. – The Vibes, January 15, 2024
