Veg prices up, school bus fares under review

The price of vegetables has gone up following the reduction of fuel subsidies last week, while school bus fares could go up by year’s end. 

According to the New Straits Times, the Land Transport Commission (Spad) is currently reviewing school bus fares and this should be completed by the end of the year. 

“From a survey, we have learnt that it is difficult for a school bus operator to charge parents based on kilometres,” Spad operations head A Halim Husain was reported as saying. 

“Therefore, the commission is looking into introducing a new mechanism to calculate a fare, which will be transparent and easier for enforcement to be carried out.”

However, he stressed that Spad has not approved any immediate fare hike for school bus operators following the fuel subsidy cut. 

Meanwhile, Star reported that the price of vegetables, including those imported from China, has gone up due to the subsidy cut and rainy season. 

“Vegetable suppliers would have had extra stock stored but we noticed an immediate increase by about 20 sen per kilo after the fuel price went up last week,” vegetable seller Latipah Dardak told the daily. 

She added that carrots and tomatoes which were priced at RM1.30 per kilo are now sold at RM1.80 per kilo, while the price of ginger has gone up by 16 percent to RM5.60 per kilo. 

The retail price of diesel and RON95 petrol went up 20 sen when subsidies were cut by the same sum last week.