The increase in the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) commuter service fare, which is expected to be announced tomorrow, is unavoidable as KTMB needs to increase the frequency of the service.

KTMB chairman Datuk Ir Nawawi Ahmad today said the frequency of the commuter service had been proposed at one every 7.5 minutes compared to between 15 and 30 minutes at present.

"In addition, costs such as salary, electricity, maintenance and others go up each year while the fare has not gone up since the past several years," he said when asked to comment on a newspaper portal on the fare hike.

The report also said that the new fare rate for the service was expected to be 15 sen per kilometre effective Dec 2 compared to 11 sen a kilometre at present.

However, Nawawi, who is also Langkawi Member of Parliament, declined to confirm the new rate mentioned by the newspaper saying that the matter would be announced by the Land Public Transport Commission tomorrow.