Bus company Transnasional appeals for fare hike

Malaysia’s largest express bus company Konsortium Transnasional Bhd (KTB) has appealed to the government for a fare increment, saying it is long overdue.

"Our cost of operations went up in view of the depreciation of the ringgit and the impact of the Goods and Services Tax.

"The cost of operations, including maintenance and spare parts, keeps increasing but we are not passing the cost to consumers," managing director Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh said in Kuala Lumpur today, without disclosing the extent of the cost increase as the company is still working out the numbers.

He was speaking at a press conference in conjunction with Nadicorp Holdings Sdn Bhd's memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) for research on the commercial application of epoxidised natural rubber (Ekoprena) and deproteinised natural rubber (Pureprena) for tyres.

Mohd Nadzmi is also the executive chairperson of Nadicorp, a conglomerate of a number of companies involved in public bus transportation, including KTB.

The Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) announced in March this year that there would be a fare increase for both taxis and express bus services.

However, the government only approved the fare increment for taxis, but put on hold the fare increase for express bus services.

On the MOA event, MRB chairperson Ahmad Hamzah said the research, conducted at MRB's facility in Sungai Buloh and the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre in the United Kingdom, has proven that the natural rubber tyres offer very good rolling resistance and wet grip performance.

The collaboration between MRB and Nadicorp is for the production of 500 tyres to be utilised by express buses under KTB from 2016 to 2018.

- Bernama