By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Nov 29: The Ministry of Transport Sarawak (MOTS) is urging the Federal government to increase the funding for stage bus services in Sarawak to RM50 million next year.
Minister Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin said the Federal government has allocation for stage bus services in Sarawak through the Interim Stage Bus Support Fund (ISBSF) and has provision for the Stage Bus Service Transformation (SBST).
“The amount provided in year 2021 was RM7 million.
“On this note, I urge the Federal government to increase the allocation of these funds to RM50 million for Sarawak Stage Bus Service Transformation Programme for year 2023,” he said in his ministerial winding up speech in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting today.
On free school bus programme implemented through Yayasan Sarawak, he said the programme started with 27 schools in Kuching and 29 schools in Miri and extended to five schools and two schools in Sibu and Bintulu, respectively.
“My Ministry will continue to work together with Yayasan Sarawak to extend this programme to more schools throughout Sarawak,” he added.
Meanwhile, he informed the august House that the RM1 flat rate bus fare subsidy programme currently involves 11 bus companies operating on 56 routes in the urban areas of Kuching, Samarahan, Miri, Sibu and Bintulu.
“The Subsidy Programme has proven to be very successful with a total cumulative ridership recorded up to 6.3 million since May 2020. A total sum amounting to RM 25.2 million has been allocated for May 2020 to December 2022,” he elaborated. — DayakDaily
