KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan’s 14th general election pledge to provide unlimited access to public transport at the cost RM100 a month needs to be reviewed before it can be implemented.
Transport Minister, Anthony Loke said they had to look into the implementation as the move would hugely impact the government’s financial position.
In this regard, the ministry will raise the matter at the Cabinet meeting to examine the appropriate mechanisms, he said.
"If we introduce (the unlimited public transport pass), it will be a huge financial implication, so it should be studied in detail further by the Cabinet.
"The decision on the implementation of the public transport pass will be announced in the near future as the Finance Ministry is still currently studying it," he told reporters today.
Asked on the subsidy that will need to be forked out by the government, Loke said the information could not be disclosed at the moment, but actual statistics would be announced after the Cabinet meeting on the matter.
He added that the pledge to provide public transport passes was previously examined during the formulating of the manifesto phase, which was before the Pakatan Harapan (PH) formed the government.
"However, while we were in the opposition, we had no access to the actual statistics and the relevant information to give more accurate estimates on the amount of subsidies to be allocated.
"Hence, after the PH victory and formation of the government, we find that the provision of unlimited public service passes with the value of RM100 would result in significant financial implications. This follows the availability of statistics and other related information," he said.
Meanwhile, on the GoKL free bus service in the capital which operates with an allocation of RM12 million annually, Loke said the service will be continued, for the moment.
However, he said, the provision of the service was subject to Cabinet's discussions, taking into account the factors involving its financial impact and benefits generated by the service to consumers.
"Statistics showed 60 per cent of the daily 70,000 GoKL commuters are Malaysians, while the rest are tourists and foreign workers," he said.