MELAKA, Sept 20 — A quality standard for upgrading public transport terminals nationwide is being drafted to include various aspects for the convenience and safety of passengers, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

He said the standard was being developed through the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) aimed at improving the quality of public transport and encouraging more people to use it.

"The federal government is preparing a standard to improve public transport terminals to be on par with airports or the South-Bandar Tasik Selatan Integrated Transport Terminal (TBS-BTS) in Kuala Lumpur.

"For ticket sales, we will introduce a ticketing system based at the bus terminal concerned so that it can overcome the problem of ticket touts,” he said at a media conference after visiting the Melaka Sentral bus terminal here today.

Also present were Melaka Public Works, Transport and Public Utilities Committee chairman Mohd Sofi Abdul Wahab and Melaka Sentral general manager Md Yusof Abdullah.

Loke said the matter would be implemented in stages depending on the financial capabilities of each state, with Penang, Perak and Melaka among the states with the capability to adhere to the quality standard.

On the five-year passenger charge rebate introduced by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) to airlines operating at the Melaka International Airport, Batu Berendam, he said the incentive was appropriate in encouraging more airlines to operate in the state.

"We hope all airline operators will work together to come up with more creative measures to increase their operations and ensure more services are introduced to the public,” he added.

Chief Minister Adly Zahari today announced that MAHB would provide a RM50 rebate for international flights outside Asean, for which passengers were being imposed with a charge of RM73, while passengers within Asean would have a rebate of RM20, from a charge of RM35 previously.

Adly said the charges after the rebate is RM23 for outside Asean, and RM15 for within Asean, while the passenger charge for domestic flights remained at RM11. — Bernama