Is Malaysia Really Offering The Lowest Train Fare To The Airport?

Featured image source: The Malaysian Insider

Since the fare hike for the express train from KL Sentral to KLIA or KLIA2, Malaysians have been complaining about the huge increment from RM35 to RM55. That’s a whopping 57% hike!

However, ERL chief executive Noormah Mohd Noor’s claims that KLIA Express “still offers the lowest airport rail transfer fare in the world”.

Zikry Kholil took to voicing out his opinion and challenged the inaccurate statement.

He wrote in his post, “I don’t think you did your Market Research right at all as you claimed. […] Unfortunately after comparing with other Airport transfers that I usually go through, I know for a fact that you’re highly inaccurate and your claims are fictitiously misleading“

He proceeded to list several countries’ railway fares as comparison:

1. Tallinn international airport to city center – RM4.50 and free for its citizens.
2. Helsinki international airport to city center – RM23
3. Warsaw central to Warsaw international airport – RM4.60
4. Seoul International Airport to Seoul city Center – RM30
5. Shanghai City Center to Shanghai International Airport (the Maglev: fastest train in the world) – RM33.05
6. Berlin City Center to Berlin International Airport – RM13.50
7. One day pass metro in Dubai (all lines which includes the airport) – RM22
8. Amsterdam Central to Schiphol Airport – RM22.90
9. London to Heathrow International Airport – RM44.63
10. Gard du Nord Paris to CDG International Airport – RM44.90
11. Vienna City Centre to Vienna International Airport – RM49.90

Even with each country’s high currency rate, the amount converted is still lower than Malaysia.

We added a couple more asian countries below as well for comparison:

1. MRT to Changi Airport – average RM6 one way, RM30 for day pass
2. Bangkok city to Suvarnabhumi Airport – RM5.25

Image source: the Malaysian insider

The Malaymail Online reported that, the firm stressed that the new rate is still less than what the firm was entitled to charge based on its concession agreement, which is said allowed it to set the fare at RM64 per journey.

ERL said the increase was needed to keep the service sustainable, citing losses amounting to RM671 million since the KLIA Express began operating in 2002.

However, Malaysians complain that the hike in prices will only lead to lesser users for the service. Currently, The National Public Transport Users Association has called for a boycott of the ERL service, mentioning that SPAD cannot raise prices at they liked.