PETALING JAYA: The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) has slammed Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) for imposing an additional RM5 fee on travellers who purchase their tickets over the counter at railway stations.
The FOMCA President, N Marimuthu, stated that imposing a fee for every purchase made at retail outlets was not acceptable. He further expressed that requiring disabled Malaysians and senior citizens to pay an additional RM5 charge per ticket was “highly insensitive.”
We’ve had a handful of complaints regarding this issue over the past fortnight. Those individuals were informed that downloading the KTMB app would help them bypass the charge.
Is this some kind of joke from the officials? How can someone who is blind use an application? To make things even more problematic, people won’t be able to use the app to reserve tickets for those with visual impairments and elderly individuals.
“Why is it proving so challenging to cater to these smaller groups of Malaysians? It’s completely unacceptable to those who are among the most vulnerable,” he stated to FMT.
Marimuthu mentioned that he heard KTMB had spent a significant amount on enhancing its facilities and implementing online services; therefore, they aimed to recover their capital investment.
If true, he said, this would be unacceptable as KTMB was a government-owned entity funded by taxpayers.
Regardless of whether it turns a profit or not, KTMB has an ethical duty to ensure that disabled Malaysians and senior citizens receive special attention. Observe how they are handled in more advanced nations.
One of the impacted travelers, visually impaired individual K Dinesh Menon, mentioned that a staff member at the ticket counter didn’t offer alternative solutions; they merely informed him about an extra charge of RM15 needed for each of the three tickets he intended to buy.
He informed me that I have to utilize the KTMB app if I didn’t want to pay the additional charge. My relatives frequently take KTMB trains, and this extra fee was introduced quite lately.
“How much revenue can they generate from individuals like us, who likely constitute fewer than 10 percent of all railway passengers?” he asked.
Upon being reached out to by FMT, a representative stated that KTMB has introduced a cashless system for this year and urged travellers to buy their tickets either online or through self-service kiosks to benefit from more appealing rates.
“You can be confident that our station personnel are consistently prepared to help customers with attentiveness and effectiveness, ensuring a seamless and enjoyable buying process,” she stated.
She mentioned that KTMB continued to offer concessional rates for specific groups like senior citizens, pensioners, and people with disabilities, providing a 50% reduction after completing the registration process at a counter or online.
“Apart from this, armed forces and police personnel as well as firefighters are entitled to a 25% discount while students get a discount of 40%,” she said.
