Updated: 07/21/2012 05:52 | By Channel NewsAsia

Number of school bus operators falling

SINGAPORE: The number of school bus operators is falling as more primary schools have gone single session, the Singapore School Transport Association said.

Single session primary schools mean more students at one time.

For bus operators, this means they need to get more buses or change their buses to bigger ones to cope with the larger number of students.

This in turn translates to higher costs.

The Association says that in the past two to three years, some 10 to 20 per cent of its drivers have been unable to cope with the rise in overheads.

Some have given up fetching primary school students entirely. The association says to prevent more operators from doing so, school bus fares could go up.

School bus operator Tok Peng Cheng, who runs Tok’s School Bus Service, said "we are looking at a (fare) increase of about S$5 to S$8 per student".

— CNA/wm