16 public buses to have protective screens for drivers

QX179R SG

16 public buses to have protective screens for drivers in six-month trial

SINGAPORE — Sixteen public buses will be retrofitted with protective screens for drivers as part of a six-month trial to see if they are effective in shielding the drivers from harm.

The trial of the impact-resistant screens will begin by early next year, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Lam Pin Min in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 7). He was responding to a question by Tanjong Pagar Member of Parliament Melvin Yong, who asked if the authorities would consider installing screens to protect bus captains here and to reduce the risk of a hijacking.

The four public bus operators here - Go-Ahead Singapore, SBS Transit, SMRT Buses and Tower Transit – will be involved in the trial, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

The trial will allow the LTA to gather feedback from commuters and bus captains on the screens, which have attracted complaints in other countries relating to their “blinding glare”, said Dr Lam.

Places that have adopted protective screens for bus drivers include London in the United Kingdom and Victoria in Australia.

According to Transport for London (TfL), a local government body, bus drivers also have instant radio access to a control room that is linked to police officers. The BBC also reported in 2014 TfL had Workplace Violence Units for front-line bus and Tube staff that support the investigation of assaults on operational staff.

Last December, Australian newspaper The Age reported that passenger buses in Victoria would be fitted with security screens to protect drivers from assault. The measure would take about three years to implement on about 2,000 existing buses.

Assaults on bus captains in Singapore include incidents on Dec 31 in which three bus captains — one driving Service 93 and two others driving Service 129 — were physically assaulted by a male commuter who had boarded their buses along Bartley Road.

Bus operators here have various measures to protect their drivers.

Tower Transit previously said it was partnering with the Certis CISCO Academy to teach drivers to deal with conflicts and hostile situations, for instance.

SBS Transit’s drivers also undergo incident management courses to defuse and de-escalate conflicts, Channel NewsAsia reported in January. Its buses have an emergency button that drivers can use to alert the control centre to dispatch a traffic inspector.

-- TODAYonline

SG1131L SG

The first batch of buses with transparent protection shield at the bus driver seat commence operations today, providing bus captain a higher level of safety assurance.

16 buses would be installed with the protection shield for 6 months, as part of a trial announced in parliament in November last year.

The National Transport Workers’ Union would collect feedback from bus captains and passengers, and work with LTA and bus operators if there is a need to improve the design of the protection shield.

The transparent protection shield separates the bus captain from the passengers.

There is a hole at the coin box area, and a few holes at the protection shield door area, to make it easier for passengers to communicate with the bus captain.

4 bus operators, SBS Transit, SMRT, Go Ahead and Tower Transit participate in the trial.

Tower Transit has 4 buses, each deployed on 990, 945, 284 and 77, with effect from today.

SMRT has 4 buses, each deployed on 960, 964, 172 and 951E, with effect from tomorrow (951E from Monday).

Information from Lianhe Wanbao (Chinese newspaper).

SG1131L SG

SBS Transit and Go Ahead probably also have 4 buses each. But the newspaper never say which routes are involved in the trial. Those who know please top-up with information. Thanks.

JKYY SG

Anyone knows if this is for SDs only or some DDs also have? Even better if have license plate number.

SG1131L SG

The post on Melvin Yong Facebook page shows a MAN double-decker bus, SG5816T.

https://www.facebook.com/melvinyong.sg/posts/1803260153310739

JKYY SG

Ohh so it is probably a mixture of SDs and DDs with the protective screen

It would make sense if there are 4 buses per operator featuring this

sgbuses SG

Follow Transperth style to a T. Next up, new bus procurement.

PoweredByCNG SG

Follow Transperth style to a T. Next up, new bus procurement.

Indeed. SG is in the process of implementing the competitive tendering of bus operations just as Perth did from the mid-1990s. Furthermore, the whole concept of government-owned infrastructure, planning and approval, with private franchised contracts with performance rewards and/or penalties is very reminicent of what we have in Perth.

sgbuses SG

And LTA also chose Swan Transit as their first operator. I am fully expecting this idea to follow not long after.

iveco SG

Not all Transperth vehicles have the protective screens. Some of the CNG O405NHs in Fremantle (under Transdev) haven't got them.

iveco SG

Better for governments to have full ownership of infrastructure and competitive tendering be practised. Public transport in all major cities should be done this way. I hope to see ComfortDelgro operating bus routes on behalf of RapidKL one day under such an arrangement.

iveco SG

And LTA also chose Swan Transit as their first operator. I am fully expecting this idea to follow not long after.

Apparently Swan/Tower Transit has a job in Chile now too.

TPS Timothy Mok SG

Svc 93, 129, 139 and 145 will be the first to have protective screen. Ditto for services 160 and 170 who needs them for the cross-border.

PoweredByCNG SG

Thing is, be aware that the overall quality of operations depends highly on the willingness of the governing body to maintain standards. The incumbent operators know how much it costs to operate a certain contract area and I'm sure the government knows as well. Thing is, you'll find that there will always be new operators who want a 'slice of the pie' who will try to undercut existing operators by underbidding and the net result will be a slipping of standards unless these standards are rigorously enforced. The governing body needs to select their preferred contractor based on a whole-of-contract value for money basis and not just award to the cheapest tender.

There have been examples of such competitive tendering programmes going horribly wrong due to governing bodies simply selecting the cheapest tender.

iveco SG

I am aware of it. Just that in some cities, there are operators who are struggling and on the brink of insolvency. Government intervention is necessary to maintain current levels of service in such instances.

carbikebus SG

So my guess for GAS is service 2,43,62 & 518.

SMB42P SG

172 >> SG5817R