Since public transportation like buses and trains are a necessity to many, the increase in fares will see no dispersion in demand (Transport fare formula review amid hints of hike; April 6).

Commuters have to accept the higher fare because public transport is hardly substitutable.

It seems the supply side is the problem.

Public Transport Council chairman Richard Magnus has said that service improvements come at a cost.

Indeed, the fares seem to have been spent on things like new batches of trains on the North-South line, three-door buses and LCD displays on trains.

However, these have been disappointing and redundant.

Rather than use the fares to fund new trains and buses, subsidies from the Government should have been used to improve fundamentals like tracks and to repair old trains.

Jasmine Ong Qin Jiu (Miss)