Singapore bus and train fares to rise on 26 December as transport vouchers expand

Singapore’s Public Transport Council approved a 7% increase in basic bus and train fares on 29 September 2026, to take effect on 26 December. Adult card users will pay 12 or 13 Singapore cents more per journey, depending on distance. The government has also announced larger public transport vouchers and a higher income ceiling for eligible households.

The decision sets different increases for card and cash payments, while leaving Workfare concession card fares and monthly pass prices unchanged. For households trying to budget for the change, the fare increase starts on 26 December; the first voucher recipients are due to be notified from late December.

How Singapore’s bus and train fares will change

An adult paying by card will pay 12 cents more for a journey of up to 3.2km and 13 cents more for a longer journey. Card fares for students, seniors and people with disabilities will rise by five cents per journey. These are increases to the fare paid for each journey, rather than a flat new fare for every route.

Adults who pay cash will pay 20 cents more per journey. Cash fares for students, seniors and people with disabilities will increase by 10 cents. The council says fewer than 1% of public transport journeys are paid for in cash, so the card changes will affect far more journeys.

The council says about 126,000 people currently use monthly passes. It estimates that roughly 110,000 more card users could potentially save money with a monthly hybrid pass after the fare rise. That is an estimate of possible savings, not a guarantee: whether a pass costs less depends on how often and how far an individual travels.

Who could qualify for the S$80 transport voucher

The government has increased the 2026 Public Transport Voucher from S$60 to S$80 for each eligible household. It has also raised the monthly household income ceiling per person from S$1,800 to S$2,100. The Ministry of Transport and People’s Association estimate that about four in 10 households will qualify, including around 60,000 more households than under the previous ceiling.

Those figures describe expected eligibility; they do not mean the vouchers have already been issued. Households that received a voucher in the 2025 exercise and still meet the income criterion are due to receive the new voucher automatically. Notifications by post or SMS are planned from the end of December, according to the government’s announcement.

Eligible households outside that first group are expected to be able to apply online or at local Community Centres or Clubs from early 2027. The government says it will announce application details later. Recipients are due to be able to redeem vouchers from 28 December 2026 through the SimplyGo app or listed kiosks and ticket offices. Vouchers can be used to top up fare cards or buy monthly passes and are valid for redemption until 31 March 2028.

Why the council approved a 7% rise

The fare adjustment formula produced a 5.3% increase for 2026. Adding 9.4 percentage points carried over from earlier reviews brought the maximum allowable adjustment to 14.7%. The council approved 7% and deferred the remaining 7.7 percentage points to future reviews. The deferred amount is therefore a possible factor in later decisions, not an additional increase scheduled for December.

The council attributes the higher formula output chiefly to energy prices during its July 2025 to June 2026 reference period. The Straits Times reported that council chair Janet Ang described sharp swings in the year-on-year monthly diesel price change during that period, from minus 14% to 138%. The paper also reported SP Group’s announcement that electricity tariffs would fall by an average 10.6% from October to December. Those later tariffs fall outside the fare formula’s stated reference period.

CNA reported that the 12- to 13-cent adult card increase exceeds the 10- to 11-cent rise in the 2023 review, making this the largest increase in cash terms. The council says SBS Transit Rail and SMRT Trains must contribute 30% of their expected additional fare revenue, or S$23.94 million in total, to the Public Transport Fund. It estimates that government subsidies for the deferred fare adjustment will cost close to S$200 million in 2027, alongside more than S$2 billion in annual public transport operating subsidies.

The immediate cost to a rider will depend on fare class, payment method and journey distance. The number of households that ultimately receive vouchers remains unknown, and the detailed process for the early-2027 application stage has yet to be announced.