April 11, 2017, 01:45 PM 
Perhaps it was an April Fool's joke that didn't sound like one.
On April 1, Saturday, a person going by the Facebook name Prakash Naidu uploaded this picture of a Land Transport Authority summon for bus fare evasion:
Screenshot from Prakash Naidu's Facebook post
It was accompanied by the caption:
"A 17yrs old boy paid bus fare $1.00 instead of $1.10 by mistake. A LTA OFFICER checked n caught him for under payment and summoned him $100.....Well done Govt ....best way to mould the future....wtf!!!!!! Is there an increment for Govt bodies????"
Here's his post:
All Singapore Stuff:
Screenshot from ASS
And Must Share News:
Screenshot from Must Share News
It was only socio-political site The Online Citizen, much criticised at times by the government, that waited for verification and confirmation from the Land Transport Authority before proceeding with its story.
Here it is:
Screenshot from TOC. Click image to go to article.
As you can see, it's dated April 11, Tuesday.
And here's what the LTA says actually happened:
"With regard to this case, our records show that the commuter had paid $0.65 (the minimum student concession cash fare), and when checked by a Public Transport Official, was unable to produce a valid student concession card.Without the student concession card, his bus fare for the journey would have been $2.20 (adult cash fare). It has also since been established that at the time of offence, the commuter’s student concession card had expired for about a year. For this evasion offence, a penalty fee of $50 was imposed, with payment to be settled within 14 days.
However, the penalty fee was not settled within 14 days. As such, a Notice of Offence offering a higher composition fine of $100 was sent to the commuter, allowing him another 28 days to settle the payment. Based on our records, the payment remains outstanding.
The Public Transport Council (PTC) only received an appeal for leniency after the payment due date for the Notice of Offence had lapsed. PTC is currently looking into the appeal while awaiting supporting documents from the appellant."
In short:
- The "17-year-old" person did not qualify for student bus fare. His student concession card expired "about a year" prior.
- Instead of being 65 cents, his cash fare would have been $2.20 (adult fare) because he did not have a valid student pass to show.
- He was fined $50, and was given 14 days to pay. But he didn't.
- So LTA fined him $100 instead, and gave another 28 days for him to pay.
- He only appealed after the second deadline lapsed, and the Public Transport Council, which fined him, is waiting for supporting documents for his appeal.
So the picture above of the notice was the second fine the "student" received. It's still not clear what the relationship is between the "student" and Prakash is, but what is clear is that his story is false.
End of story.
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Top photo: Screenshot from Prakash Naidu's Facebook post
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