SINGAPORE: The Public Transport Council has revised the service
guidelines for public buses to help ensure they meet specific
standards, and with recent changes to the law, it will, for the
first time, have the teeth to enforce compliance.
Service standards for buses have actually been in place since
1994.
The problem was they were route specific and there were no
penalties if they were not complied with.
Bus commuters would identify with the main problems highlighted in
a survey done by the Public Transport Council.
Waiting for buses was top on the complaint list, followed by
over-crowding and long travel times to complete a bus
journey.
All this changed in April this year when the PTC Act was amended,
giving the council new powers to ensure compliance and impose fines
if standards are not met.
The standards cover six essential aspects of service -
* Bus service reliability - for example, at least 85 percent of bus
services should not deviate more than 5 minutes from the scheduled
frequency
* Loading - for example, weekday peak period bus loading shouldn't
exceed 95 percent
* Safety
* Provision of information
* Availability of bus services
* Integration with other modes of public transport
Designed to overcome the most common complaints, the standards will
kick in once the two main bus operators - SBS Transit and SMRT -
get their new bus licences in 2 months.
PTC will then monitor these standards under actual operating
conditions for half a year, tweaking them if necessary, by early
next year, after which fines kick in for non-compliance.
These can go up to $100,000 per contravention.
"We can certainly strive and achieve continuous improvement and if
each year, we can improve by a few percentage points, then, in time
to come, it should reach a level not where no one will complain,
but at least the majority of commuters will be satisfied with it,"
said PTC Chairman Gerard Ee.
The PTC says it will audit the performance standards measures
submitted by the operators.
Singapore's two biggest bus operators, SBS Transit and SMRT, who'll
be affected by the new service standards, say they welcome
them.
In a statement, SBS Transit said the new standards will act as a
goal post, spurring not just them, but the whole industry.
To meet the standards, SBS Transit says it will be stepping up
efforts it has already made in the past few years, such as
increasing the fleet and number of bus services, as well as
revamping their website.
Meanwhile, SMRT says they've also been continually pursuing
improvements, like adjusting schedule & route to match demand,
introducing new services as well as providing free services. - CNA
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