Screenshot from Channelnewsasia: Monday, 24 July 2006

Straits Times Forum page letter: Thursday, 20 July 2006

Bus rationalisation done to benefit commuters

I REFER to the article, ‘Save our buses, please’ (The Sunday Times, July 16).

The article highlighted that some commuters face a longer travel time as a result of the removal or re-routing of bus services (‘bus rationalisation’) following the introduction of a new MRT line.

Our aim is to provide a public-transport system that is economic, efficient and affordable for the majority of commuters. This we have done.

To keep abreast of the growth in travel demand, we have been expanding our MRT network to provide a more efficient, comfortable and reliable travel experience.

In order to fully realise the benefits of mass rapid transit, rationalisation of bus services is necessary to avoid excessive duplication of services, as well as to better integrate bus and MRT services.

If this is not done, then overall public-transport costs at the system level will go up and this will eventually have to be passed on as higher fares to commuters. This is an outcome that we want to avoid.

Besides operational efficiency, the Public Transport Council (PTC) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) also seek to ensure that bus rationalisation is done with the commuters’ interests in mind.

Care was taken in past bus-rationalisation exercises to ensure that the majority of commuters benefit in terms of travel times, convenience and cost and that the minority who are affected have alternative services.

LTA is also mindful of commuters’ travelling time when planning public-transport infrastructure and one of the main objectives in constructing the Circle Line was to reduce travelling time between suburban destinations.

Both the LTA and the PTC continually take into account feedback from commuters on bus rationalisation and work closely with the public-transport operators to ensure that the overall impact on commuters is positive.

Amy Hing (Ms)
Director (Land Transport)
Ministry of Transport

My response

This letter caught my attention when it was published in The Straits Times’ Forum page on 20 July.

We should all be totally grateful for the gift of bus rationalisation. Because without it, we will face fare hikes even higher than the ones SMRT is going to send for submission to the PTC. Bus rationalisation also makes sure that buses and trains are packed to the brim, which is beneficial for all passengers.

Once the Circle Line is complete, even more bus services will be rationalised, leading to even greater efficiency, lowered operation costs and higher prices (which will be even higher if not for rationalisation since the price of petrol will always go up and the PTC has yet to veto a fare increase). Did Ms Hing forget to say that public transport costs must also keep up with inflation?

So, we rise inexorably towards World Class public transportation prices. Is it time then for SBS Transit and SMRT to implement some public transportation best practices such as a Customer Service Charter and a Passenger Compensation Code?

I’ve browsed both SBS Transit’s and SMRT’s websites. Neither mention anything about minimum service standards. Nor are there any monthly performance statistics reports. Perhaps this is because we don’t have published train arrival and departure times from which we can objectively measure service. Bus drivers have time schedules stipulating where they should be at what time. Shouldn’t these be made public too?

But I’m not being entirely fair.

I have found some mention on service standards in SBS Transit’s Annual Report, where they proudly declare that they exceed minimum requirements. The problem is that I can’t find these minimum service standards anywhere: not on the LTA‘s website, not on the PTC‘s website, not on MOT‘s website, certainly not on the transport providers’ websites. Dear readers, if you find these ‘transparent’ – as SBS Transit Chairman Lim Jit Poh calls them in the 2005 Annual Report – transport standards, please let me know where they can be found. (Perhaps the standards’ transparency is the reason no one can see them? Heheh… I jest, okay?)

What is my recourse if service 151, which is supposed to arrive at intervals of 3-10 minutes between 6.30 a.m. and 9 a.m. on weekdays (this is from TransitLink’s website, which, btw, doesn’t mention anything about standards either), consistently takes about 11-15 minutes or more to arrive nearly every morning?

If bus rationalisation reduces route duplication, what real competition is there between SMRT and SBS Transit? Where are the economies of scale? Shouldn’t the public transportation industry also be rationalised? A bus company is a bus company. A train company is a train company. A taxi company is a taxi company. No transportation company should have their fingers in all three pies, or even two.

UPDATE, Tues 25 July: There seems to be no mention in today’s ST about SMRT’s planned fare hike application to the PTC. Not newsworthy enough for Singapore’s premier only English language broadsheet, I suppose. However, TODAY has both stories on page 3 (morning edition, the tunnel story is continued from the front page).

UPDATE, Thur 3 August: Own Time, Own Target weighs in with three good suggestions to improve public transportation. Via Tomorrow.sg. To answer his question, I don’t think any of them take the bus or the train. Remember people, it’s ptc.gov.sg not ptc.org.sg.