Mr Yeo Cheow Tong said on Thursday on public transport in
Tuas:
"Sir, Mr Ong Kian Min also talked about Tuas. Sir, first let me
assure Mr Ong that Tuas toady is adequately served by public
transport. There are now 4 public bus services serving Tuas, with a
total fleet of 41 buses, and they link Tuas industrial estate to
Boon Lay MRT Station and Boon Lay Bus Interchange which are located
together. SBST has planned their bus schedules to match the
ridership which is concentrated during the morning and evening
peaks, with very low demand during the off-peak period. PTC has
periodically checked, and found that the bus services to Tuas are
quite adequate.
By 2009, public transport to Tuas will further improve, when we
will complete the Boon Lay Extension (BLE). This will extend the
East-West MRT line westward into the Jurong estate, into the Joo
Koon Circle area. There will be a new integrated MRT cum bus
interchange there. I think workers will find it a lot more
convenient and accessible when the facilities are ready.
Sir, Mr Ong Kian Min suggested that we carve Tuas Industrial Estate
out of the USO, Universal Service Obligations, and allow other
players to come in to provide mini-bus services. Sir, we have
actually considered this before. Our conclusion is that this is not
likely to lead to better service levels at today's fares. This is
because the bus ridership pattern is very peakish in Tuas, like in
most other industrial estates, and the travel time also coincides
with travel times elsewhere, so i.e. whoever operates there cannot
be using free capacity freed up because the buses were lying idle,
and therefore be able to offer a low cost service.
Sir, without the USO, the bus operators will only ply during the
peak hours, with very little coverage during the off-peak hours,
little or in fact no coverage. Also, the bus operators operating
mini-buses may not enjoy the same economies of scale as SBST and
SMRT do. So in short, the workers in Tuas may be worse off than
today, as there is no guarantee that fares will be the same or
lower than the current level, and the service may not be available
throughout the day.
Sir, I must admit that employers in Tuas do face a bigger transport
challenge, and therefore the workers there face a bigger transport
challenge than many other places in Jurong. For example, the travel
time for bus commuters can be very long, in view of the sheer
physical size of Tuas. Let me give an example. The 4 bus services
that ply Tuas Industrial Estate take between 50 minutes to more
than one hour just to go from Boon Lay Bus Interchange to the end
point of their service in Tuas. That is that one-way trip can take
an hour or more.
This makes it less attractive for workers to work there, and
employers there have had to compensate them in some ways for this
inconvenience. Some employers pay a higher salary. Others offer a
dedicated company bus shuttle for their employees because such
shuttle services are faster, more direct and flexible, and can be
customised to cater to their special work arrangements, like their
shift hours.
At the end of the day, the employment market in Singapore is an
open and competitive one. Workers who are structurally unemployed
will need to be re-trained for the jobs that are available, whether
these are in Tuas or elsewhere in Singapore. And employers will
need a competitive remuneration package if they wish to attract the
right worker, in keeping with the demands of the job, the
workplace, and the skills required. This definitely applies to the
employers in Tuas too."
