Encourage more people to use public transport

The roads in Singapore are getting congested. The Government plans to extend the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) to more roads, extend the chargeable hours and increase the charges. These measures will reduce the congestion on the road. 

The Minister for Transport said that building more roads does not help to solve the congestion problem. It encourages more people to use cars and will lead to more congestion at a later date.  

I agree. 

We need to encourage more people to use public transport. As a recently converted user of our public transport, I now prefer to use the train or bus, rather than to drive a car. I avoid paying ERP and parking charges and the hassle of driving on congested roads.  

Previously, like many other car owners, I found the bus routes to be too complicated.  

If we make some effort, we can learn how to take the bus from our home to the nearest MRT station. But, if we are traveling anywhere else by bus, it is quite difficult to find the right bus. This explains the heavy demand for taxis. 

We need a revamp of our bus routes, to make it easier for many people to use them to move around.  

I wish to suggest a longer term strategy and an interim measure for the shorter term. 

For the longer term, we need a public transport system that has the following components. 

• The MRT forms the backbone of the public transport
• Feeder services take commuters from pick up points within a town to the MRT station or bus interchange
• Express services bring commuters between the bus interchanges and provide an alternative to the MRT

The feeder services can use large or small buses and should preferably be operated by a number of small operators.  

The express bus services will connect several of the bus interchanges in the town centers. They are not required to stop at pickup points along the route. Under this arrangement, they can keep to a more reliable and frequent schedule. Preferably, they should provide seats to all their passengers for a comfortable ride.   

The express bus services will be especially useful to connect the town centers along the northern part of Singapore, This will reduce the traffic of people traveling a long distance on the MRT to change at the MRT  interchange stations in the downtown area.  

This system may require a commuter to take up to three segments, if their start and end points are not within walking distance of the train station or bus interchange.  This is not a problem, as the connection can be done at the same place. It is useful for the commuter to take a short walk or move around anyway. 

The total travelling time is likely to be shortened.  The waiting time to take a feeder service should be relatively short, as more buses can be operated at shorter frequencies on a few routes to serve a large number of people. As the express bus does not have to stop at pick up points, the travelling time can be reduced considerably.  

As an interim measure, I suggest that the existing bus services be actively promoted as a feeder service. At each bus stop or MRT station, there should be a map showing the bus services that serve an area within (say) a radius of up to three kilometres. The services can be colour coded to make it easier for the commuters to pick the right bus to take to their ultimate destination.   

This colour coded map will encourage many people to take buses for short distances. It will reduce the demand for taxis during the peak period and make better use of our buses. 

The tourists will also be encouraged to take the buses, especially for travel within the business or shopping districts. If they are not familiar with the bus services, they can ask the locals for directions.  

Our Singaporeans will be delighted to help, if they are confident about giving the right directions, for which the colour coded maps will be very useful.  

If it is easy and convenient to take public transport, more car owners will choose this option. This has been my personal experience. 

The revamped system that I have proposed is similar to the hub and spoke system that is used by the airlines. The traveller may have to take a flight from their local airport to a regional hub airport. From the hub, they take a long distance flight to another hub airport, from which they change to another flight to their destination.

The airlines have found this method to be an efficient use of their aircrafts, and to get a higher load factor. Although the traveller take connecting flights, the system generally give a better range of options for the traveller. It probably reduces the cost of air travel as well. 

Tan Kin Lian 

The writer served as chief executive of NTUC Income for 30 years, prior to his retirement on 31 March 2007.