what to do? Transport minister said the frequency has improved
and all "smoke screen" the topic with past enhancement
Dr Teo Ho Pin: To ask the Minister for
Transport (a) whether he will provide an update on the status of
the central bus planning consultations conducted by the Land
Transport Authority; (b) when will the proposed changes be
implemented to improve bus services; and (c) whether there are
additional measures to improve bus services at Bukit Panjang.
Reply by
Minister for Transport, Mr Raymond Lim
1. The
central bus planning consultations with the community led by
Minister Lim Hwee Hua is one of the many platforms we use to gather
feedback and work with the public to improve our public transport
services. Such consultations are an on-going process and not
a ‘once-off’ effort. From the consultations to date, we have
received useful feedback on several aspects of the public transport
network including the frequency and reliability of bus services,
journey times as well as suggestions for route changes.
2. LTA has been
actively implementing a holistic range of public transport
improvement measures based on the feedback gathered. For
example, since June this year, LTA has formalized a process through
which they work with the public transport operators every quarter
to identify specific bus services for improvement. The improvements
are rolled out expeditiously after each quarterly review, and they
have helped to improve the loading situation and ease crowding on
the identified bus services.
3. LTA has also
been improving the travel time and reliability of bus services
through the implementation of bus priority measures, such as bus
lanes and the mandatory-give-way-to-bus scheme. The
mandatory-give-way-to-bus scheme has recently been expanded to
cover another 24 bus stops, and we now have 178 km of bus lanes in
total. LTA has rolled out improvements of public transport
facilities, such as new integrated transport hubs, upgrades to
existing interchanges, more barrier free facilities and covered
linkways to transport nodes. Real-time information and system
maps are also being made more widely available to improve
information dissemination to facilitate journey planning.
This has improved the overall public transport journey
experience for commuters.
4. On
bus route changes, what stood out from the feedback during the
community consultation process was that, in most cases, the
majority of the residents were not in favour of major changes to
the existing routes as that would be disruptive. This is also what
we have learnt from the experience in other countries – that major
‘big-bang’ changes tend to be disruptive and confusing for
commuters. Changes to the system should therefore be
calibrated, incremental, and progressive. Our principle has
also been that any change must benefit the majority of
commuters. Route changes will therefore be introduced
gradually, with some changes expected by year-end and more to be
progressively implemented later on an ongoing basis.
5.
Going forward, LTA will periodically update Advisers to the
Grassroots Organisations on the major public transport improvements
in their wards. The next update will reach the Advisers over the
next few weeks. These updates will include improvements for
both the bus and the rail networks as they work in tandem to bring
integrated public transport services to our commuters and improve
the overall public transport travel experience for all.
6. Dr
Teo has also asked about improvements to the bus services in Bukit
Panjang. Bukit Panjang has benefitted from various improvements to
the bus services in the area. For example, Service 922 was
re-routed earlier this year to serve an additional two areas in the
estate – Jelapang and Bangkit, with an improved peak hour
frequency. As part of the quarterly review, service improvement
measures were also identified for 7 bus services which ply the
Bukit Panjang area, to improve the loading situation on these
services during peak hours. One of the most heavily-utilised bus
stops at Block 270 in Bukit Panjang was also recently converted to
a “bus hub”, where the bus bay was lengthened to accommodate more
buses at any one time. This has reduced the dwell time of
buses at the bus stop and also shortened the overall journey time
for bus commuters. For the elderly or the disabled, Service 171,
which travels to town through Bukit Panjang, is now a
wheelchair-accessible service. In the early part of next year,
Bukit Panjang Interchange will also be upgraded to be
wheelchair-accessible. Besides improvements to the bus
services, Bukit Panjang residents also benefited from a new
entrance to Fajar LRT station that is connected by a covered
linkway to nearby blocks, and can look forward to the completion of
the Jurong East Modification Project in 2011 which will ease
crowding on the MRT system. Over the longer term, residents can
also look forward to having a new MRT station in Bukit Panjang when
the second stage of the Downtown Line is operational.
