Using Public Funds to subsidize ONE out of many is very wrong..

It is very WRONG for the government to have been giving subsidies to one bus company and NOT to the others. "It is DEFINITELY not fair to use tax-payers' money to subsidise RapidKL.

Was the money of KL Selangor people only that was used to subsidize RapidKL --- oh was the money of the RAKYAT of Malaysia that was being used. In many places, our bus services are really bad -- and it would have really helped if this money was used to prop up and develop public transport.

REPORT please how much money has been paid to RapidKL to date.... Report please on who else is receiving "special subsidies" from the government in whatever sector.....

Monies of the Malaysians should be used to improve PUBLIC TRANSPORT facilities - more railway lines/routes, more LRT, etc...Better toll-free roads. Should we not be having a train travelling from Johor Baru along the East Coast to Kuantan...to Kuala Trengganu...to Kota Baru to Thailand. Should we not be having train lines criss-crossing the Peninsular in the North and the South? Then, in Sabah and Sarawak, should there be some railway line from Sabah to Kuching Sarawak..

This is where PUBLIC FUNDS should be utilized - not to subsidize one selected bus company...


2008/05/29

RapidKL fares likely to go up as subsidy is scrapped

By : Eileen Ng

Datuk Seri Najib Razak addressing the media after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Transport. With him is Datuk Ong Tee Keat.

KUALA LUMPUR: RapidKL bus fares are expected to go up as the government pulls the plug on the subsidy for the company.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak gave an assurance that the interest of the people, especially those in the low-income group, would not be affected.

He said the subsidies were withdrawn with immediate effect to enable RapidKL to compete on a level playing field with other private bus companies.

"This move will see RapidKL complementing the operations by other bus compa-nies. It is not fair to use tax-payers' money to subsidise RapidKL.

"There will be some adjustments (to fares) but at the end of the day, it will save taxpayers money," he said after chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Transport.
Those present at the meeting included Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop and Transport Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat.

Najib said an announcement on the new fares would be made later as more time was needed to study the implications.

"Our principles are that if the transport system is used by the high-income group, we will liberalise the fares by setting a minimal fare, but for the low-income group, we will control (the fares) in stages."

He said the discontinuation of the subsidy is part and parcel of the government's efforts to streamline its policy towards subsidies.

"But more so, we don't want them to kill off the local companies. Many are either dying or going bankrupt."

He said the government was thinking of setting up a public transport commission which would act as a single authority for licensing, enforcement and monitoring.

"The current situation is so fragmented as it involved 13 ministries and agencies. The cabinet committe decided that it was better to have a single authority to ensure an efficient and smooth public transport system."

He said the matter would be deliberated at the next cabinet committee meeting.