Planes have first class, business class and economy class paying different fares. Long distance trains (i.e. not commuter trains) also have first class and normal class, with different fares.
I wonder if the MRT trains can also introduce 2 classes, a higher fare for people who wants a seat and a lower fare for standing passengers. This is how it can be done.
The front carriages have seats; the back carriages are for standing passengers only. If the passenger enter a front carriage, it is recorded in the smart card (ez-Link). On exit, a higher fare is charged.
This is just an idea. It is worth exploring.
Planning and the free market
6 days ago
If you want to do this, the sitting passengers need to pay something like 4-8x the standing passengers.
ReplyDeleteJust count the ratio of seats to floor space.
Hong Kong already has such a system on their former KCR, the train that goes all the way to Luowu in China.
ReplyDeleteThey call it first class seats and it is double the price of the regular seats. It has plush seats and normally you will get a seat as compared with the normal class seats which are usually crowded.
This idea is good for the MRT operators, but not for most passengers, except those who really want the better seats. Why? Basically its implementation will define the current fare as the standing fare and a higher fare for the seated passengers.
ReplyDeletebut the poor old/ sick /pregnant etc cant afford to pay for seats then...
ReplyDelete