SINGAPORE: Major changes are expected in land transport after
more than a year-long review to improve the situation.
In the first three major announcements, Transport Minister Raymond
Lim zoomed in on changes to the bus system, which serves two-thirds
of all commuter trips today.
Speaking at the opening of the Land Transport Gallery, he outlined
the urgency of the problem, stressing that with trips poised to
increase 60 per cent between now and 2020, the only option is to
steer people towards taking more public transport.
For that to happen, Mr Lim said, not just the quantity, but also
the quality of public transport would have to improve
tremendously.
Currently, the system is fragmented between two operators - SBS and
SMRT - which plan the routes based on commercial considerations and
minimum service obligations.
But the result is this: there are more than 250 bus services in all
but only 1 in 3 come every 10 minutes or less and some even take
more than half an hour to arrive.
Then there is the problem of feeder services that make circuitous
loops before arriving at the interchange.
So firstly, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will take over the
central planning of the bus network, with the commuters' ease of
journey as the main focus.
Buses will also get more priority on the roads, with more full-day
bus lanes and making it mandatory for cars to give way to buses at
bus bays.
More integrated public transport hubs, like the ones at Toa Payoh,
Sengkang and Ang Mo Kio, will be upgraded to make transfers easier.
Five more hubs will be upgraded and two more are already being
upgraded.
And from next year, commuters will pay for distance travelled,
regardless of the number of transfers made.
LTA will also introduce an integrated season pass for both bus and
rail travel, regardless of operator.
And more travel information will be made available via panels, text
messages and websites.
The second big change will be to introduce competition among
operators, including opening the market to new players.
Mr Lim said: "They found that introducing some form of competition,
or even just the real threat of competition, is an effective way to
keep bus operations efficient and raise service standards."
The Ministry says there are limited economies of scale for fleets
above 500 buses.
And since the country has a 3,700-strong bus fleet, Singapore could
potentially have more than two operators.
The island will be carved up into different regions and potential
operators will bid for these in a competitive tender.
The third major change is for the LTA to keep its pulse on the
community's transport issues through regular dialogue with
grassroots members.
More changes, including those to the ERP system, are expected in
the following weeks. - CNA/ac/vm/ch
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