Lui Tuck Yew
Singapore
“What they do is that they report to me on a three-monthly basis. After the December 2011 incident, I felt that the way LTA was overseeing the operators needed some improvement. In the past, we were looking at the outcomes and the indicators that we get every so often.”
“SMRT has also combed through the tunnels to ensure that there are no other leaks with water dripping onto trackside installations and will be installing data loggers at all traction power substations within the next two months to better monitor the condition of the insulators.”
“But because we think that actually it could have lasted us longer if it was better maintained over the years, therefore, you also take a discount from what the Government would otherwise have to pay. But the formulas are all set out in the White Paper. I believe I have answered the Member's questions.”
“The tight labour market is, indeed, a challenge for the bus industry. To address this, a multi-pronged strategy is needed. To attract more local bus captains, both operators have raised entry level base monthly salaries by about $400 since the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP) commenced in 2012.”
“Over the past three years, there were 355 cases of fare evasion and 162 cases of passengers assaulting taxi drivers. Passengers found guilty of fare evasion may be fined up to $1,000 and repeat offenders may be fined up to $2,000 or jailed for up to six months, or both.”
“The insolvency of Alpine Bau affected the completion timeline of three stations, namely, Tan Kah Kee, Sixth Avenue and King Albert Park, and their associated tunnels.”
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Every one of 597 lines we hold for Lui Tuck Yew, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 10 of 12.
“Madam, I thank Mr Giam for his clarifications and some very good questions there. On the new feeders, no, they are not part of the $1.1 billion BSEP. At some point in time, we would have to go back to MOF and discuss this again, not just because we are introducing nine new routes for a few hours a day but because when we accelerate the BSEP programme, we are bringing forward the implementation of new routes, augmentation of feeders, bringing forward the recruitment of new drivers, using more fuel, doing more maintenance. Once we decide we want to accelerate the programme, then obviously, the cost will have to change and we have to look at this more closely together with MOF. It is not just the new feeders that we are introducing that will affect the $1.1 billion programme but the fact that we intend to accelerate and bring forward the completion of the BSEP programme. That is something that we all believe we want to do and certainly, from the feedback of Members that they want to do this as quickly and as much of it as possible. Will the private operators be subject to the same penalties? The tender process is on-going. I do not want to frighten some of them away. I do not yet know what response I will get from them. And certainly, when I see the tender responses from the private operators, then we will be in a much better position to sit down with them and to see how much of the standards that we would like to impose are acceptable. At the end of the day, it is still, in that sense, a pilot and experiment, bringing in private transport operators to run some of these routes. It will be a period of time before we make the full adjustments as to the kind of standards that we would like to impose on them completely.”
“I ought to get back to the Member on the specifics of that area.”
“Madam, I thank the Member for that clarification. Certainly, I want to acknowledge the very good work by Mr Teo and the Chamber in supporting us to try and bring the private operators onboard. I Page: 73 mentioned in Parliament yesterday that in fact, we are tendering out more routes for private operators, particularly during the morning peak hours whether it is City Direct from the towns using expressways bypassing all the MRT and feeder connections directly to the city area, we are going to have a total of nine routes that we want to tender out to the private operators. The first of which has already gone out earlier. We hope to also draw on the capacity that the private transport operators may have to run short services in towns that will bring people more directly to the MRT stations. Specifically, on the Member's point about the 800 buses, in fact, what we are doing is we are trying to accelerate the programme. Initially, when we first looked at it last year, we said that we would try to do the bulk – about 70% within the first three years but the whole programme will run till 2016. We have since seen good progress. We think that by the end of this year, about 50% of the buses that the Government has promised, 550 can be rolled out and the bulk of it by the end of next year. We think that there may be more areas of need. I hear from many Members of Parliament that they would like to have even more augmentation to the feeders, more new routes, more trunk routes, but particularly more feeders. What I am trying to do is to make sure that we accelerate the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP) while taking onboard some of the additional requests and views that have been put forward so that we can look at what more we need to do.”
“Madam, I thank the Member for that clarification. I was not sure if the Member was referring to buses or to trains, so I guess I have to try and deal with both. For buses, as I have mentioned earlier, the licence expires in 2016. I am quite sure that the PTOs will be more than happy to return all the routes to us. The financials are an indication of how they see things. The challenge indeed is how to have good and proper continuity rather than the returning of the routes. On trains, as I have mentioned earlier, going forward, for Downtown Line, Thomson Line and the other lines, there will be a competitive tendering process. What will happen is that the bidders will bid for the right to run those lines. They will pay an annual licence charge that is fixed and then we will have two other component charges based on revenue and profitability. The money that is collected from these charges and licences will be set aside as a sinking fund to renew the infrastructure as well as to buy more capacity, more trains and so on. For the existing lines, there are licence agreements. It would be very difficult and we certainly will be open to legal challenge if we tell them that we want to take back the lines at whatever point in time before the expiry of the licences, unless there is proper negotiation and an agreeable exchange by both parties.”
“I suppose this was 9 March of this year. Yes. I will ask LTA to make sure that they give the Member a proper reply. I thank the Member for the clarification and, indeed, I must have misunderstood her last evening. Certainly, if I recall correctly for Rivervale Crescent that there are new BTO developments that are coming up and LTA was already being put on notice last year on this and requests were made for them to consider the possibility of introducing services. The larger point that I would want to make is that – and this is to all Members of the House – it is sometimes not possible and not desirable for buses to ply every Crescent, every Drive, every Avenue, every Road, every Street. If we do so, it makes the route more circuitous and the journey would take much longer – more time and distance for commuters to get to their destination. 2.00 pm What commuters want most of all is to try and get to the key nodes and key amenities as quickly as possible. So, while we look to the Member's request for Rivervale Crescent, the larger point I want to make is that sometimes, there is, indeed, a need to walk to the nearest bus-stop or to the LRT station. Also, I tried to clarify a little bit earlier that overall, for Punggol East, about 90% of the blocks would be within 200 metres of an LRT station or one of the bus stops that is serving the constituency. Specifically, on the new blocks and the point that the Member has made, and the request that she has raised to LTA on 9 March, I will make sure that they give her a reply.”
“Do give me a chance to reply and share with him some data. I will touch on the ERP clarification, and perhaps Parliamentary Secretary Faishal Ibrahim may want to respond to the point on pedestrian overhead bridges (POB). Just to share some data on which we based the decision not to move further on ERP rates in the Orchard cordon as well as the Bugis/Marina Centre. I would share with Members the 2012 speeds before the removal or the reduction of the ERP charges as well as the speeds as we have it for the first quarter. For Orchard cordon, what we did was we removed charges from 11.00 am to 12.30 pm. Speeds for all three bands, 11.00 am to 11.30 am; 11.30 am to 12.00 pm and so on, all fell. In particular, in the 12.00 pm to 12.30 pm band, traffic fell from 22.3 to 19.9. For the Bugis/Marina Centre cordon, we reduced the charges from 12.30 pm to 2.00 pm to $1, instead of $2. For two of the three periods, the speeds fell between 1 kilometre and 2 kilometres per hour and, for the other one, it was marginally the same. We do not see, at this point in time, more scope to reduce the charges further and we will just continue to watch the situation. Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: I thank Mr Seah for the clarification. The one that we are going to build will be near to Nex. As he knows, we will give priority to those which are near to transport nodes. Nevertheless, we will take that into account. I will speak with the Member offline.”
“The existing licences for the two bus operators running the current 200-plus routes will run out in 2016. This is something that we are looking at very carefully to see how we can move ahead with contestability for bus packages, perhaps not to the full extent but to some extent, even prior to that taking place.”
“Mdm Chair, let me first thank Mr Cedric Foo for the very thoughtful question because this looks into the industry's structure over the longer term, and if I may share briefly on where we intend to go in this regard. For trains, I think the direction is quite clear. We introduced contestability for the Downtown Line in 2011. This was a contest between the two incumbent operators. After much consideration, we decided to eventually award this to SBST. Going forward, all new lines – the next set of lines will be the Thomson-Eastern Regional Line – will come under the contestability framework. We do not rule out the possibility that over time, even foreign players will be invited to participate in these contests. Page: 67 1.45 pm Over the longer term, we intend to transit the existing rail lines that are run either by SMRT or SBST into this new framework. We will have to work out how to do so, the timeframe and the details but we certainly hope to see some progress within the next two to three years. On buses, we have talked about contestability in 2008 and certainly, again, emphasised in 2013 Long Term Land Transport Master Plan, and that is indeed the direction that we want to go. The challenge is in putting together packages of routes, together with the supporting infrastructure like depots and interchanges that will support this contestability framework. We intend over time to move towards something like what they would have in London where there are seven operators, in their case, contesting to run and operate different packages of routes. We will need to be very careful to make sure that the packages are configured appropriately. This is something that will take time.”
“For commercial vehicles, as was announced by the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, the LTA and the National Environmental Agency will implement an Early Turnover Scheme to incentivise owners of pre-Euro and Euro I diesel vehicles, which are the oldest and most pollutive diesel vehicles on our roads, to upgrade to the cleaner Euro V emissions standards. The details of the scheme will be announced over the next two months and we will see how the take-up will be thereafter. Let me conclude on this segment. We will continue to innovate and make improvements to the way we optimise road usage. We will introduce advanced technology to manage traffic in the years to come, regularly consider ways to refine our vehicle ownership measures to improve their effectiveness. The opportunities to build roads will become more limited in future, and when we Page: 27 are able to do so, we will give priority to buses even as we expand those roads. We will continue to facilitate more travel options, and help people to make more responsible, environmentally friendly choices to meet their travel needs. In so doing, we hope to transform private transport in Singapore, to keep our people and economy moving. Road Safety”
“Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked during the Budget debate if it has made a difference. Today, others have also said that we ought to consider having a COE category for vehicles of this nature and put more COE quota into this category. Let me share with Members of the House what the take-up rate had been like over the first few months. Close to 50% of cars registered in the first two months qualified for CEVS rebates, obviously, a much higher rate of over 80% for Category A cars, and a quite respectable 20% for Category B cars. So, 50% of the cars that were registered in the first two months qualified for some form of CEVS rebate, from $5,000 to $20,000. This is more than double the 20% that would have qualified for rebates in 2011. We used the 2011 data because we suspect that in 2012, there might be some pent-up demand that people sort of waited for the introduction of this scheme. So, 50% may have been distorted by the accumulation of pent-up demand and we would have to monitor this in the coming months. But I think we have seen some shift to more environmentally-friendly cars. I, therefore, believe that it has some effect to encourage more buyers to choose low-emission models. In total, for those who are interested, we have given out about $13.5 million in rebates in the past two months. We will watch the take-up rate closely over the next two years because we promised that we will review this scheme towards the end of 2014 after we have seen how it has transformed market demand. LTA will then review the scheme based on its impact on purchasing decisions, advances in vehicle design and technology, as well as the progress of Singapore's overall carbon mitigation plan.”
“This is actually ideal for stretches where traffic data shows a "tidal" pattern, where traffic is heavy in predominantly one direction during the morning peak hours, and in the opposite direction in the evening. We have identified the Kranji Expressway-Pan Island Expressway stretch connecting the residential areas in the north to jobs in the west as a feasible corridor for a "reversible flow" scheme. The LTA has awarded a contract for advanced engineering consultancy studies, which are now in progress. Third, since the alignment of the 21.5-kilometre long North-South Expressway was announced in 2011, LTA has commenced some advance works and awarded three advanced engineering consultancy contracts. These consultancy contracts will guide major construction works, which we plan to start in 2015. In future, the opportunities to build more roads will become more limited. While we will still expand local road networks to provide access to new developments, we will prioritise road widening in local areas for bus lanes, as our priority is public transport. We must be careful not to widen local roads beyond what is absolutely necessary as they will encroach into the living environment of residential neighbourhoods, and cause more dust and noise pollution. So, we will do this judiciously, and wherever possible, we will make sure that priority is given to public transport. Let me now move on to the topic of green transport. The land transport sector will do its part to mitigate climate change and promote environmental sustainability. The Carbon Emissions-based Vehicle Scheme (CEVS) was Page: 26 implemented at the start of this year. Under the CEVS, low-emission car and taxi models are given incentives in the form of rebates off their Additional Registration Fee.”
“The aggregation of taxis under taxi companies means that they are better organised and able to leverage on economies of scale and resources, provide enhanced service and better meet the changing demands of commuters, say, for example, in call bookings. Our problem today is that we have actually too many taxis that are not efficiently used, rather than too few. We have one taxi for about every 200 persons – so five for every 1,000. Hong Kong is about half this rate, likewise for London. In New York, it is about probably 1.5 taxis for every 1,000 people, higher than many other cities, and that is our rate today. It is better for us to see how we can strengthen the performance of our seven existing taxi operators, Page: 25 make better utilisation of the fleets that are under their charge, rather than allow ad hoc, individual players back into the market. Madam, please let me take some time to briefly update Members on some of our major road projects. First, the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) is on track to be opened by the end of the year. The MCE will link the East Coast Parkway (ECP) and the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) with the AYE in the west. This will give motorists a seamless east-west connection without going through the city centre. When the MCE is completed, the part of the ECP that connects to the AYE will become part of the network of arterial roads that will serve that area. Second, to make better use of our scarce land space for roads, LTA will study the feasibility of a "reversible flow" traffic scheme. I think some of you, old enough to remember, will recall that Nicoll Highway had something similar to this in the past.”
“In any case, the longer term and more stringent standards would be gradually phased in over three years – 70% of the taxi fleet in each company to meet 250 kilometres usage; 250 kilometres driven this year and increasing to 80% and then 85% in subsequent years. We will continue to monitor the results and improve the framework as necessary. If the standards are so successful that taxis start to affect traffic flow, then that is a happy problem that we will be very happy to look more closely into. I do assure Dr Lily Neo that it is quite unlikely, as our 28,000 taxis comprise less than 3% of our total vehicle population of almost a million. 11.45 am Mr Seng also asked about the long-term plan for taxi COEs. Today, they pay the Category A Prevailing Quota Premium (PQP) for COEs, although the COE itself is drawn from Category E. We have only recently made these changes and, as he has rightly pointed out, taking them out of the bidding system had the opposite effect on COE premiums to what people have suspected, that the premiums had gone up. And the conclusion, therefore, may be that the taxis bidding in Category A in the past may, indeed, not have had such a big effect on the rise in premiums as others had suspected. These are early changes that we have made and it will take time before we see the full effects and we will review the impact at the appropriate time. Lastly, Mrs Lina Chiam last evening suggested bringing back the individual taxi ownership system. I think it is actually instructive to look at how our taxi industry has developed over the years. Prior to the 1970s, taxis were indeed owned by private individual owners. Since then, all new taxis have to be registered under taxi companies, and individual ownership of new taxis was disallowed.”
“Today, taxi companies are required to meet the Quality of Service standards set by LTA, which cover areas like call booking and safety. I assure Mr Seng that LTA reviews the service standards regularly, taking into account commuters' experience on the ground. The LTA will also consider overseas best practices and is looking into the possibility of benchmarking our service standards with that in other cities. LTA has, in fact, tightened the service standards just last October. The revised standards include higher targets for call booking performance and vehicle inspection passing rates, the latter for safety reasons. Generally, most of the taxi companies have been able to comply with the revised standards so far. LTA will continue to monitor this and work closely with the taxi companies to achieve even higher service levels in the future. I should add that even before the service standards were revised, there had been some improvements in service levels. The average answer rate for call bookings was better in 2012 compared to 2011. The average passenger waiting time at key taxi stands has also improved over the same period. For example, the average waiting time in the city from 5.00 pm to 11.00 pm fell from about six minutes in 2011 to about three minutes in 2012. And I think these improvements may, in part, have been attributed to the December 2011 taxi fare revision. Dr Lily Neo and Mr Seng Han Thong asked about the impact of the taxi availability framework which was announced last August and introduced at the Page: 24 start of this year. I think it is too early to draw definitive conclusions.”
“We can, and will do more to facilitate these transport arrangements and options. Car sharing is, indeed, one example. With higher COE premiums, more people have taken to this option to gain access to a car without having to own one. Membership of car-sharing organisations now stands at 8,000, which is an increase of about 33% compared to a year ago. LTA is working with HDB to make car sharing more accessible in the heartlands where it is feasible. To facilitate peer-to-peer car sharing, LTA will study if there is further scope to liberalise the Private Car Rental Scheme. This Private Car Rental Scheme currently allows car owners to rent out their cars on weekends and public Page: 23 holidays. Let me move on to talk about taxi services and availability. Mr Seng Han Thong had filed a number of cuts on the role of taxis in our transport system and how to improve it further. Taxis serve specific point-to-point travel needs and can, therefore, we know, provide a higher level of service compared to mass public transport. As Mr Seng had pointed out, taxis also help to meet the transport needs of the infirm and the elderly. And in light of our ageing population, and as we continue to constrain car growth and car usage, taxis will play an increasingly important role. And this is why we had initiated a strategic move to make taxis more available, to utilise the taxi fleet more efficiently, and for taxi operators to meet higher levels of service. I believe the better the quality of taxi services, the more likely some car owners may be prepared to give up their cars and switch to the train or buses for their daily commute, while opting for taxis for the occasional trip.”
“So, in the past, it was ERP charges – too high, control the car ownership, and so on – now, I think we are hearing a different side of the equation. So, to those who are now championing aggressive usage measures like Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), I hope to get their fullest support if we see the need for more extensive usage of the ERP in future. The ERP system has served us well since its introduction in 1998. Despite the vehicle population increasing by over 40%, we have managed to keep our roads relatively free from congestion with traffic speeds remaining largely in the optimal range. Er Dr Lee Bee Wah, last evening and Mr Seah Kian Peng, this morning, have reiterated their calls to abolish ERP in the evenings and on Saturdays. Since the ERP rate reductions were made in October 2011 and in June 2012, we have generally observed heavier traffic flow and thus lower traffic speeds in the time slots where we had cut or removed ERP rates altogether. We have no plans at the moment to remove ERP altogether in the evenings and on Saturdays as it is clear that ERP is still needed to manage traffic congestion. Without the ERP, motorists, as well as bus commuters, will encounter more congested roads in the evenings when they go home, and on Saturdays when they go to town. Nevertheless, let me assure you that wherever it is possible, and we will certainly continue to see where we can fine-tune our ERP policies at the margins. Let me move on to talk a little about car sharing. I understand that, from time to time, Singaporeans do like to have more convenient door-to-door options to get around, for family outings, shopping, shopping trips, ferrying elderly parents to medical appointments, for example.”
“We will remove this restriction for Category C, and allow these owners to renew their COEs for another five years. And this will also apply to those who are already on their first five-year renewal, and LTA will release more details on this later. We will continue to review what more we can do to help businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We will look into Mr Gan Thiam Poh's suggestion to split the COE category for commercial vehicles to separate light goods from heavy and very heavy goods vehicles. But one implication is that since additional sub-categories means smaller quota numbers, this suggestion may result in even more volatile COE premiums. But I think the intent behind Mr Gan's suggestion is really to ask if the smaller light goods vehicles should pay the same COE premium as heavy and very heavy goods vehicles, and this is something we will study carefully. As there have recently been major changes that affect vehicle ownership, I think it is best that we let them take some time to settle. We have not even seen the outcome of the first COE bidding exercise after the implementation of the progressive ARF and loan restriction measures, which is going on this afternoon as even we speak. And it will take a number of bidding exercises before the effects of the recent changes become clear. Therefore, we will take some time to carefully consider the many suggestions we have received from Members Page: 22 and the public before we make further changes to the COE system. Let me move on to talk about ERP. With COE premiums reaching new highs, a common refrain is for us to shift our emphasis to restrain usage.”
“And I think that this is the prudent way to go about buying a car, given that it is a big purchase and a depreciating asset. Those who want to go for a less expensive option can consider Off-Peak Cars (OPC). Mr Lim Biow Chuan has rightly suggested that we try to do more to promote them. Today, owners who wish to use their OPC during the restricted hours have to pay $20 for an electronic day licence, and this is regardless of Page: 21 whether they use it for just half an hour or, say, the full 12 hours. We will review the feasibility of making the scheme more flexible and attractive when the technology is available for us to price it differently. There have also been requests for us to smoothen the supply of COEs to stabilise COE premiums. COE premiums are influenced by many factors, both on the demand and supply side. I think some smoothening of COE supply is a good idea to temper the peaks and troughs of the supply cycle. The difficulty is, of course, how to do it without causing other problems. I have asked LTA to see if there is a practical way of putting aside some of the supply from the upcoming peak that we expect in the next few years – I think starting from 2014 – to save some of it and put it aside for the future when COE supply becomes tighter. This is a longer-term study, and I assure you that we will not be making major changes to the COE market in the near term. For businesses, we have reviewed with MOF what we can do to help them with rising business costs. As announced during the Budget Statement, besides a 30% road tax rebate, we will also relax the COE renewal rule for commercial vehicles to help owners with their cash-flow. Currently, at the end of the 10-year COE, if owners want to renew their COE for just five years, they can do so only once.”
“In the past, it was 100% ARF for all cars based on the OMV and I am sure if you remember from the announcement two weeks ago that we have introduced three categories, and for the ARF rates to be tiered from 100% to 180%. And this means that buyers of luxury cars will now pay higher tax rates than buyers of budget cars. It is a difficult undertaking to try to allocate cars based on needs, such as to raise a family, to ferry elderly family members or for work purposes. Setting aside the likely problems with implementation and loopholes, I think it would be extremely difficult for the Government to decide fairly who deserves and needs a car and who does not. So, I would say that while our bidding system is by no means perfect, I think it is certainly preferable to some of the other suggestions that we have received, like converting it all to a balloting system. In Beijing, there is a lottery system for car licence plates. Over one million people enter the lottery for about 20,000 licence plates every month. There have been reports of buyers who have never won the lottery – little wonder why – despite entering it every month since it started more than two years ago. Or buyers who had no intention of purchasing a car in the first place, save for the fact that winning the lottery has become a lot more lucrative. There have also been reports of buyers who get their licence plate on the black market for I think about S$30,000. In contrast, and similar to another Chinese city, Shanghai, our COE bidding system does allow people who want and can afford a car to do their sums, save up and buy one eventually, and not be left to the vagaries of a balloting system.”
“As Category A COE premiums rose, I received more requests to give priority in COE bidding to families with elderly members, families with children, allow only one car per household, and so on. I also note that Mr Gan Thiam Poh had a suggestion in Parliament last week for a "family car" COE category. I understand the aspirations of many Singaporeans to own a car. In fact, about 45% of households today already own a car, and this has increased over time. So, with your permission, Mdm Chairperson, I would like to share this slide with Members [A slide was shown to hon Members. Please refer to Annex 1.] Forty percent in 2008, rising to 45% of households in Singapore owning a car in 2012. I would have to say that this trend is simply not sustainable due to our land constraints, and so we have to limit supply and find some equitable way of allocating it. We believe that our COE system remains the most appropriate way of allocating this limited but non-basic resource. Page: 20 By and large, the COE system today already accommodates some social equity considerations. Car quotas are divided into large and small car categories, using engine capacity of 1,600 cc as a simple but generally well accepted basis for the classification. With this, buyers who wish to have smaller cars need not compete for the COE bidding with those who desire larger cars. But outside of this 1,600 cc divide, we try not to impose other social considerations on the COE system to avoid distorting the market further. Our approach has been to try to address social considerations largely through the vehicle tax structure, in particular, the Additional Registration Fee (ARF). Consistent with this approach, MOF recently announced changes to make the ARF structure more progressive.”
“Given our land constraints, we must press on with vehicle ownership and road usage measures to manage traffic congestion. Our intent is to take a calibrated approach in managing the growth and use of private transport, and, where necessary, adjust our policies and pace of Page: 19 implementation. For example, we have phased in more gradually the reduction in the annual vehicle growth rate, deferred the adjustment for past over-projections of the Certificates of Entitlement (COEs), removed taxis from the bidding system, and exercised some flexibility for ERP in the evenings and on Saturdays. 11.30 am Let me first touch on the topic of COEs. We have, and we continue to receive, many well-intentioned suggestions from the public, as well as from Members like Mr Cedric Foo, Mr Hri Kumar, Mr Lim Biow Chuan, Dr Lim Wee Kiak, and they include ideas to re-categorise COEs according to whether it is OMV, value of the carbon emissions of the car, to allow only individuals and not dealers to bid, to tighten financing for cars, and so on. Please be assured that we take all these suggestions seriously. We will study them thoroughly and respond at the appropriate time, sometimes with our sister agencies like the MAS. That said, I would like to take the opportunity to address some of the key feedback that we frequently receive. First, I do acknowledge that with changes in technology, using engine capacity as the criterion for COE categorisation may no longer be so valid and we will study this further on how to improve this. Secondly, there are calls to do more to level the playing field to buy a car.”
“Mdm Chairperson, I have spoken at length last night about the improvements that we are making to the public transport system, which is my Ministry's top priority. Before I go on to talk about private transport, taxis and ERPs and so on, I thought it might be useful for me to continue the discussion last night because we were talking about feeder buses and trunks. And if I did not hear it wrongly, Ms Lee Li Lian was saying that there were no trunk or feeder bus services serving her constituents in Punggol East. And so I was intrigued by that statement and went to do some checks on this. I just wanted to clarify that indeed there are five services that run through the heart of her constituency and, in addition, there are about 10 services that run along Punggol Road which is at the western boundary of the constituency and another bus that runs along the eastern boundary of the constituency. Our estimate, based on all these, is that about 90% of the HDB blocks in Punggol East are within 200 metres of either an LRT station, or a bus stop, or both. So, it is about 90% of the HDB blocks within 200 metres of an LRT station, or a bus stop, or both. And LTA had also planned previously to augment the bus services as new BTO developments come on stream and they will consider doing so. I am sure that there was no ill intent behind her remark and that she is simply unaware of the buses running into and around her constituency. However, such inaccuracies, if they are taken up, and repeated often enough on social media, will take on a life of their own and, hence, I wanted to share this information with Members of the House, just to make sure that we get the record straight on the services that are available. So, let me now move on to talk about private transport.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, I certainly beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2013/2014, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.”
“Mr Chairman, may I seek your consent to move that progress be reported now and leave be asked to sit again tomorrow?”
“So, we are planning ahead, expanding capacity, extending reach, and opening up more public transport travel options for commuters. There will be more people taking buses and trains in the long term, but I believe that they will be experiencing faster journeys on a more integrated network, which is much more extensive with many more connections. It will be a different public transport system, which will meet our nation's transport needs. Sir, let me conclude. At MOT, we are not just focused on planning for the long term. We are actively seeking solutions to the real problems that commuters face today. Increasing bus and rail capacity is one prong of our efforts. We are also improving bus and rail reliability, so that overall, we can reach high service levels that we should expect of a quality public transport system. We are also Page: 182 exploring ways to optimise existing capacities in our public transport system, be it through tighter regulation of operators, or encouraging shifts in commuter travel patterns. So, let me assure Members of this House that the Government remains as committed as ever to realise the vision that was first set out in the Land Transport Master Plan of 2008. However, the public transport landscape today has changed from what it was five years ago, and we will respond to meet commuters' changing travel needs even as we refresh the Master Plan. We will spare no effort to strive towards meaningful improvements in commuters' travel experience.”
“Page: 181 Residents in Ubi, Kaki Bukit and Geylang Bahru will have a choice of two MRT lines to get to the city centre. It is on track and we are watching this very closely for a variety of reasons. We have encountered some problems with conditions, sometimes marine clay and sometimes, very huge bounders that we have had difficulties tunnelling through. We have also been slowed somewhat because of the number of complaints have made regarding noise. So, as much as it is reasonably possible and with all due consideration to safety, we will make sure that we try and keep to the schedule that we have promised for the Downtown Line. Beyond the Downtown Line is the Thomson Line and that will be completed in phases from 2019, and this will allow commuters to transfer to the five MRT lines by then with six interchange stations when fully opened. If I can show Members what the map would look like – very complicated, very congested. Today, we have about 15 interchange stations, including the LRT interchange stations, to provide connections and transfers for commuters. When the Thomson Line is completed, we will have 30 interchanges. What this means is that we think it will help achieve a better spread of morning peak commuters across the entire rail network, and it will also improve our network resilience, so that commuters have alternative routes in the event of a delay or disruption. In the longer term, we will also facilitate more connections and integration between transport modes – bus, rail and other forms of travel like cycling. I will speak tomorrow on private transport and later on, Parliamentary Secretary Assoc Prof Muhammad Faishal will also elaborate on the extensive plans that we have for cycling and an inclusive public transport system.”
“5 million, it will be about 20% increase from what it is today. If it is 6.9 million, it will be 30% from what it is today. On the other hand, by 2030, we will double our rail network to about 360 kilometres, and more than double the overall MRT capacity delivering commuters into the CBD. So, I am confident that we will have enough capacity to meet demand over the long term. More importantly, with our new rail lines like the Cross Island Line and Jurong Region Line, Singaporeans will be more connected to their destinations than ever before. I said that in time to come, eight in 10 homes will be within a 10-minute walk of a train station, and therefore it really means that many commuters will no longer need to rely on bus feeders to get to the MRT station or they will have a much shorter period than what it is today. Therefore, with shorter, more direct train routes from more parts of the island, journey times will also come down. These new rail lines may seem very far in the future. But Singaporeans will not have to wait that long for more connections and shorter journeys. Commuters can already look forward to benefiting from the rail lines that are close to completion. Starting with Stage 1 of the Downtown Line later this year, new lines or extensions will continue to open almost every year for the next five years. Mr Christopher de Souza will be pleased to note that the Downtown Line project is on track to serve residents previously not directly connected to our MRT lines, such as those living in HDB estates in Hillview or private estates around the Hillview area, and along Jalan Jurong Kechil. The Downtown Line will also effectively add 50% more carrying capacity in the eastern corridor.”
“Public transport commuters, motorists, cyclists, taxi drivers and customers, as well as environmentalists and academics, have shared their views. And I thank all stakeholders who have contributed to the formulation of LTMP 2013 which we would formally launch probably in the second quarter. Let me assure Singaporeans, including Ms Faizah Jamal, that our partnership will not end there. For instance, as part of our preliminary planning for the Cross Island Line later this year, we will be engaging citizens, like yourself, who are concerned about the impact of the Cross Island Line on the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, which is also a natural heritage that we must share and safeguard as a nation. We will continue to converse with stakeholders as we implement the Master Plan. The diverse and sometimes conflicting views of commuters and stakeholders have helped to sharpen our focus as well as better understand the tradeoffs in addressing the key issues Page: 180 before us. Over the last two months, I have shared some of our plans for the longer term and many Singaporeans have asked whether the plans are indeed sufficient to cope with a higher population in 2030. Given the exceptionally high level of ridership growth on our public transport system of 35% in the last five years, and the day-to-day experience of crowded public transport, many Singaporeans were concerned whether we could cope. We can cope. First, the nation is expecting the rate of population growth to slow down, and the Government is resolute on this. Ridership will continue to increase, even as the shift mode share and the population growth in the most extreme case by some 20% to 30% from what it is today, based on the population scenario of 6.5 million to 6.9 million. So, if it is 6.”
“According to the interim results from the Household Interview Travel Survey for 2012, about 62% of all trips during the peak periods are made on public transport, up Page: 179 from 59% in 2008. So, in 2008 it was 59%, 2012 it was about 62%. And so that partly accounts for why journeys have increased about three percentage points each year. Also, we find that more car-owning households are using public transport for daily commute compared to four years ago. Now there are more people, who despite owning a car, find that it is preferable for them whether for cost, convenience or other reasons to be using public transport instead of their cars. Much of this shift could perhaps be due to the rail expansion programme that we have put in place over the last few years. Our rail network has increased by about 30% since 2008 – it was about 140 kilometres then, now it is about 180 kilometres today – and we have plans to further expand the rail network to 360 kilometres by 2030. And what we will hope to achieve in terms of public transport mode share during the peak periods is, as we have mentioned before, 70% in 2020 and 75% by 2030. But we still have much to do to make public transport a choice mode. Our system and policies must be more commuter-centric and responsive to fundamental demographic changes, such as an ageing population. Commuters must be convinced that public transport can serve their needs, and get them to their destinations reliably and comfortably. 7.15 pm As part of the process for our Land Transport Master Plan (LTMP) 2013, we conversed with a wide range of stakeholders on the land transport system, through Our Singapore Conversation, focus group discussions, and online forums.”
“In this regard, I share the concerns that have been expressed over the affordability of fares for various groups of commuters, such as the disabled, the low-income and the Polytechnic students. Members like Ms Denise Phua – during Budget debate – Dr Lily Neo, Er Dr Lee Bee Wah, Ms Jessica Tan, Ms Lee Li Lian, all the ladies, as well as gentlemen like Mr Lim Biow Chuan, Mr Faisal Abdul Manap, Mr Christopher de Souza, Dr Teo Ho Pin, and during the Budget debate, Mr Cedric Foo, asked how we can better support them in public transport fares. And also, I thank Mr Lim Biow Chuan for not only raising the needs of these groups but also suggesting that the Government should take on the burden and the responsibility of paying for these concessions. I thank Members for their interest in the recommendations of the FRMC, but let us be patient, let us give them a bit more time, and I think we will be better able to address questions on fares when the report is released, likely around the middle of this year. And, meanwhile, the Chairman of the FRMC, Mr Richard Magnus, has already shared some of his views on concession schemes through his blog, indicating some of his own preliminary thoughts on how fares policy can ease some of life's pressures for some of these groups who may need help. This aspect of our fares policy I know is something that we hold dear to our hearts and I believe in doing more wherever possible. So, I have changed from being sympathetic to doing more wherever possible. When we launched our Land Transport Master Plan 2008, we were confronted with a declining public transport mode share and it was a worrying trend. However, we appear to have turned the corner five years on.”
“Do you have a good, reliable system? Do you have fares that are affordable? I think, therefore, when we compare against some of the major cities around the world, our fares, generally, are quite affordable. In fact, the percentage of household expenditure that is spent on public transportation has fallen over the years. But we know also that the reality is that operating costs have gone up. Diesel prices went up by about 55%, national wages by over 25% from the 2006 to 2011 periods, while as Mr Foo has reminded us, our fares increased cumulatively by 0.3% over the same period. So, this has put the financials of the PTOs under some amount of pressure, and I think if you were to recall from reading the press coverage, this is especially so for the bus industry. We are monitoring the financials of the bus sector very closely and we will have to Page: 178 explore assistive measures if they are indeed needed. Against the backdrop of worsening bus industry financials, I expect that it will be a challenge for the PTOs to do more to expand and enhance bus services without additional assistance. What form this revenue assistance will take is to be decided. I am mindful of the calls from a number of Members, led by the redoubtable Mr Liang Eng Hwa and Er Dr Lee Bee Wah, Dr Lily Neo, Mr Cedric Foo, amongst many others, to freeze transport fares. This has to be considered together with the additional task of studying the affordability of public transport fares, which I had recently asked the Fare Review Mechanism Committee to undertake. Whatever fare formula is proposed, we must safeguard commuter interest in affordable public transport fares, while balancing against the very real financial pressures faced by the PTOs.”
“On its part, the SMRT has committed $750 million over the next few years to purchase more trains for the North-South and East-West Lines, the Circle Line and the Bukit Panjang LRT, under plans to meet increased ridership. I believe I have made that point clear in reply to a PQ that was filed by Er Dr Lee Bee Wah. For the North-South and East-West Lines, the SMRT is also replacing the signalling system, and earlier this year, they had announced the commitment to overhaul the first and second generation trains for the North-South and East-West Lines – this is by SMRT. These are necessary investments to enhance and renew the ageing rail system and improve the resilience of the network. We will work with operators to ensure that they set aside sufficient funds to meet their commitments to these investments where necessary. The cost of these investments would have to be properly shared between the Government, the operators and the public. We must seek a balance where the public transport system remains financially viable for our PTOs, but fares kept affordable for all commuters. As privatised operators, and let me share with Members a slide on the average fares [A slide was shown to hon Members]. As mentioned by Mr Cedric Foo, our PTOs are incentivised to keep costs down and improve productivity, and also to develop new revenue sources, such as rental and advertising, which help to defray operating costs. But more importantly, non-fare revenue helps to reduce the need for fare increases, and this has allowed commuters in Singapore to continue to pay fares that are among the lowest across major cities. So, regardless of whether you are talking about privatised models, nationalised model, whatever it is, the most important thing is what is the end outcome for commuters.”
“The next point I would like to make is that it is likely, therefore, that we would have to carry out regular service disruptions – planned regular service disruptions – during some revenue hours, so that more time is available for these works to be carried out and so that the overall improvements to residents and commuters can be completed earlier. This is something similar to what we have announced for the Circle Line when we changed the cable. We will try to, for instance, on that occasion – for some Sundays – revenue service may start several hours later than usual for segments of our rail network. For Circle Line, we announced that it was between, I think, Mountbatten and Paya Lebar, and certainly for elevated tracks, we will also have to do likewise. And we will give advanced notice and try to reduce the inconvenience to commuters as much as we possibly can. So, I ask for patience from Singaporeans as we try our best to do these works in the shortest time possible. These numerous improvements to our public transport system entail massive investments. The Government has committed to the expansion of our public transport network for the medium to long term. The operators, too, need to fulfil their roles to ramp up capacity and ensure higher levels of reliability. As the system ages, the responsibilities of the operators on the rail system become even more important. I thank Mr Gan Thiam Poh for his concern over the role of the PTOs in bringing out greater capacity to meet the expected increase in travel demand. Page: 177 Under the existing rail licences, the train operators are indeed responsible for replacing and adding capacity to meet ridership needs.”
“So, rather than me trying to run through the list, please refer to the website and see if you are one of the lucky ones. A more comfortable walk to train stations and bus stops matters. So, too, does less intrusion into the lives of Singaporeans, particularly for residents whose homes are near elevated MRT tracks. While we work with SMRT to step up maintenance for tracks and trains to minimise railway noise, we are also building some 20 kilometres of noise barriers along MRT tracks where the noise levels exceed the NEA's guidelines. Page: 176 We expect to begin works later this year and aim to complete them in phases by around 2020. And so, certainly, residents living close to MRT viaducts like those along certain stretches of Ang Mo Kio station, as mentioned by Mr Ang Hin Kee, can look forward to a noticeable reduction in noise levels once the barriers are installed. Why does it take so long? The installation of noise barriers will need to be coordinated with ongoing renewal works on the North-South and East-West Lines, such as re-signalling as well the replacement of sleepers that are used to hold the MRT tracks in place and the regular maintenance works that needs to be done. No point putting up a barrier and then when we do the re-sleepering works, we have to take the barrier out because we need access to the space to change the sleepers and thereafter to put it back again. I think it is probably duplication of effort for which we will be held accountable. So, it needs to be coordinated with the other works that is ongoing. And, certainly, I want to assure Mr Ang Hin Kee and all Members that we will try to speed up these installation works as much as possible but there are also technical challenges like limited engineering hours available.”
“I had earlier announced plans to build 200 kilometres more of sheltered walkways around train stations and bus interchanges under what we call the "Walk2Ride" programme. This comprehensive programme will greatly improve connectivity around such transport nodes and other amenities. To put this in perspective, 200 kilometres of shelter is like being able to cross the entire length of Singapore five times without going under the sun. Commuters have asked me – what if I need to walk more than 400 metres because my walking route to the station is not a straight line but weaves in and out of HDB blocks? Mr Ang Wei Neng, too, holds these concerns and he would like it to be extended even further. Let me assure these commuters that we do take a flexible and pragmatic approach in building these walkways. In rolling out the "Walk2Ride" programme, we consider straight line rather than walking distance of 400 metres. So, it is a straight-line distance, we draw a radius around it, and therefore, actually, the linkways may eventually end up being longer than 400 metres, depending on the route that is chosen because we want to make sure that we make our public transport services as convenient and as accessible for as many commuters as we possibly can. About 90 existing MRT stations and 43 LRT stations, as well as 25 bus interchanges and 100 major bus stops, will be connected. LTA is working with the local communities to plan where, how far and when the walkways should be built. The tender for the first batch of about 20 MRT stations will be called this quarter and subsequent tenders will be called every quarter. The list of stations in the first two batches of tenders will be posted on the LTA website later today.”
“And depending on the nature of work, officers in these agencies can choose the time they prefer to start work within a time-band, and leave office at a time corresponding to their start-time, as long as they perform 42 hours of work a week. For instance, if they come in at 7.30 am in the morning, they can leave work at 5.00 pm to have an early dinner with their families. 7.00 pm I would like to end off this part of my speech on travel demand management by saying that we are committed to spreading out travel demand outside the peak hour. If we achieve a more even travel distribution, it will be a win-win situation for all. For those who have supportive employers and are able to travel earlier, then they get to enjoy the enhanced benefits that we will introduce and have a less congested ride to work in the morning. I know that there will be some commuters who will still need to travel during peak hours, for example, because of family routines like sending their children to childcare or to their parents' place before they can go to work, and so they are unable to shift their travel times even if their employers were to be very supportive of the arrangement. While these commuters may not enjoy the discounted travel, I believe that the travel demand management schemes will benefit them also because they will have a less congested and stressful ride during peak hours if Page: 175 other commuters have shifted their travel behaviour. As we work towards faster and more reliable bus and rail journeys, let me also update Mr Cedric Foo and all Members on our plans to make it easier and faster for commuters to get to our train and bus stations.”
“As my former military counterpart would tell me, this is exactly what is meant by "hurry up and wait". I recall Ms Irene Ng highlighting during the Budget Debate the need for employers to consider and improve flexi-work arrangements for their employees who wish to travel outside the peak hours. I fully support this. If employees adjust their travel times to come earlier to the office, we hope their Page: 174 companies will allow them to adjust their working hours and to leave office earlier. The travel demand management workgroup that is co-chaired by Ministers of State Mrs Josephine Teo and Dr Amy Khor will continue to work with employers on flexi-work arrangements. Through the Travel Smart pilot launched in October last year, the LTA is already working with 12 organisations to put in place the necessary workplace practices to facilitate off-peak travel for their employees. In response to Mr Ang Wei Neng's question, the pilot includes both public and private sector organisations. To date, three of these organisations have already obtained management approval to put in place flexi-work measures for their employees, such as staggering work hours, introducing IT facilities to enable employees to work remotely, and even providing shower and locker facilities. These include, for example, Rajah and Tann, and BP Singapore. The public sector will also continue to take the lead in enhancing flexi-work arrangements and in encouraging it to enable its officers to take advantage of the current pre-peak travel schemes and the enhanced schemes that will follow. In fact, most public sector agencies already offer flexible hours to their officers.”
“Many other Members like Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Er Dr Lee Bee Wah, Mr Cedric Foo have chimed in, in support of his idea. Certainly, this is an idea that we will not dismiss off-hand and I have asked my staff to consider it seriously. What we are still studying is whether we should simply increase the current fifty-cent discount substantially to say, $1, or to go all the way to make it free for commuters travelling before a certain cut-off time in the morning. But rest assured that we certainly want to do more to encourage more commuters to shift out of the peak hour. I should, first, qualify that we are not planning to shift every commuter out of the peak period. As some members of the public have since pointed out, after Dr Janil's suggestion came out, if that were to happen, we would simply be creating a new peak but earlier in the morning, and that is not our intent. So, the fact that there have been mixed views over whether commuters are prepared to shift their travel times should they be offered free travel, is actually quite reassuring and certainly no bad thing. More importantly, even as we are studying how to enhance the Early Travel Discount scheme for the city area, we also need to work with employers in the CBD. There is simply no point if people get to work early but are unable to start and leave work early. Let me share with Members some Straits Times comics which I found quite interesting. Otherwise, what we see here if they really cannot start and end earlier is that this cartoon may very well come true – you wake up early so that you can get on the MRT in time to, say, travel for free, but because you woke up earlier than usual, you end up sleeping at your workplace.”
“If we can get 10%, 15% to 20% of commuters in the peak period to travel, say, up to an hour earlier, we would achieve a very perceptible improvement in commuters' daily travel experience to get to work. This will also help us to run a more efficient transport system and better optimise the capacity that we have. Hence, over the last year, we had made our travel discount schemes more attractive to get commuters who are able to shift their travel patterns to do so. Today, under the SMRT's Early Travel Discount scheme, commuters who enter the SMRT network can enjoy a discount of up to fifty cents for the train journey if they exit at any of the 14 designated city area stations before 7.45 am. Commuters travelling off-peak, both before or after the peak period, can also accumulate more points to win cash prizes of up to $200 under another scheme, called the Incentives for Singapore's Commuters, or the INSINC scheme for short. Both schemes have had some effect in reducing peak crowding – the Page: 173 SMRT scheme has seen a three to four per cent shift to the desired level outside of the peak hours to before 7.45 am, while INSINC has seen significant growth in its membership, with more than 68,000 members since its launch in January of last year. Shifting the peak hour demand into the pre-peak period, where there is excess capacity, benefits both pre-peak and peak hour travellers. Therefore, we are prepared to significantly increase the incentives to encourage travellers who are able to do so, to shift their travel in this manner. Over the past week, there has been a lot of discussion on Dr Janil's idea to allow commuters to travel free on public transport before the peak hours.”
“The tightened regulatory and penalty frameworks reflect the importance that we place on a safe and reliable MRT system, but particularly on the impact that serious regulatory breaches can have on commuters. I have also asked LTA to strengthen its existing auditing capabilities so that we can more closely monitor the service quality and reliability of both the train as well as our bus services, and to be more responsive to any lapses that we face. Let me move on now to talk about this new subject of spreading out peak hour travel demand that so many of you have spoken on. Even as we work towards increasing capacity and improving reliability, we need to better optimise our public transport capacity, particularly during the peak hours, and especially since the significant improvements to peak hour train capacity will only happen from around 2015 to 2016 onwards, with the re-signalling programme and so on on the North-South Line. Today, the commuters who face peak hour congestion on trains are predominantly the ones who are trying to reach the city area to get to work. For example, if we take a look at the exit data for Raffles Place station, the large majority of commuters travelling to this station every morning make their exit between the 8.30 am to the 9.00 am window [A slide was shown to hon Members]. At the bottom, it is on the "X" axis, 15-minute intervals; on the "Y" axis, it is exiting passengers. This gives Members an idea of the spread of passengers exiting Raffles Place MRT station during the morning hours up to about 11 o'clock in the morning. The very high peak in commuter loading on our train system is obviously something that we should try to spread out, or what we call in technical jargon, demand management.”
“What it means is that on average, for those two systems, you should see a service delay of five minutes or more, roughly about once a week. These are systems that operate through most of the day and it is about once a week that you should see a service delay of more than five minutes. With sustained Joint Teams' efforts to rectify these system problems and to actively carry out preventive maintenance, we do expect to see further improvements over the coming months and years. Even as we partner the operators to refresh our MRT system and enhance train reliability, it is the Government's responsibility to set the correct standards in line with reasonable expectations of a high-quality public transport system. We are close to completing our review of our rail regulatory and penalty frameworks, which will take effect from the second half of this year. We will be enforcing more stringent maintenance and service reliability requirements by increasing the prescribed penalties that operators will face for breaching them. We are raising the standards. We are also raising the penalties that they will face for breaching these standards. In this regard, we are considering pegging the revised maximum penalty to a percentage of the affected MRT line's total annual fare revenue. Today, it is a cap of $1 million but we think that the more appropriate thing to do is to raise it to a percentage of the affected lines' total annual fare revenue, as a stronger deterrent against service disruptions and regulatory breaches. We will continue to review this over the next few months but we are close to finalising the Page: 172 frameworks that we want to implement.”
“I have also asked LTA and SBST to start planning for mid-life upgrades for the North-East Line and trains because they are now entering its second decade of operation. We have learnt useful lessons on what has been done or not done for the North-South and East-West Lines and also from our counterparts overseas, and we will apply them to the North-East Line and then to the Circle Line. Let me talk about LRT because I think some Members are particularly interested in this aspect. LRT withdrawal rates are generally low because, basically, the driver in the loop is sometimes able to continue to drive the train even in a degraded mode. What we track instead are the trends of service delays on our LRT systems as we are mindful that even service delays without train withdrawals also cause inconvenience to commuters. The Joint Teams are Page: 171 studying the main faults causing these delays on our LRT systems, as well as ways to shorten recovery time when incidents happen. So, let me share with Members a slide on what is happening there [A slide was shown to hon Members]. Today, we see more stable levels of service delays for the Sengkang-Punggol LRT, and trends of improvement for the Bukit Panjang LRT. As Mr Liang Eng Hwa said, we visited that on two occasions, the BPLRT last year. We had LTA work very closely with the operator and they promised over a three-year programme to try to significantly improve the service delays for BPLRT, so we are seeing some improvement there and we have to continue to work even more of them on that in the coming years. Members can see for yourselves that we have about 2.08 and 1.28 delays of more than five minutes for every 100,000 train-km on the BPLRT and SPLRT respectively.”
“This is also data that we have put onto the website on a quarterly basis, in fact, in even more detail than this so that riders and Page: 170 commuters can go in and take a closer look. Since the commencement of the LTA-SMRT Joint Team in June 2012, train withdrawals for the North-South and East-West lines have been reduced from about 4.5 per 100,000 train-km in the second quarter of 2012, to about 2.8 train withdrawals per 100,000 train-km in the fourth quarter of 2012, and then now to about 2.7 in the first two months. What does it mean? It means that for every 1,000 trips that the trains make, we should see one withdrawal – or roughly about 99.9% success rate of not having a train withdrawal. We cannot stop at this, and in fact, we need to do more because the target we have set for ourselves is 2.1 for 2013. We believe that it is stretched but achievable. Over the longer term, we intend to reduce the number of train withdrawals to one for every 2,000 train trips. The North-East Line and the Circle Line have actually relatively healthier train withdrawal rates, and they are stable at around 0.7 and 1.2 withdrawals per 100,000 kilometres respectively, compared to the 2.7 that we see for the Compass Line. Their health is not something to be taken for granted. The Joint Teams that LTA has with SBST and SMRT will also look into the reliability of these lines. Generally, they are doing good work there. The Joint Teams are working to rectify the Overhead Catenary System for the North-East Line which had been problematic between HarbourFront and Outram on three occasions over the past 12 months as well as changing out the power cables for the Circle Line. We should aim to complete that by the end of this year.”
“In effect, what it means is that the operations centre will have to be a lot busier, will have to be a lot more proactive and prescriptive, to help buses reduce the incidence of bus bunching or the long gaps between consecutive buses. They will have to ask the buses to speed up or to slow down where appropriate and, where necessary, introduce some buses mid-stream when this is warranted. This is something that London has implemented a number of years ago and through their experience and revisions over a number of years, they have a system that runs pretty well today, and I am keen to take a step forward to try this out. Hopefully, this is something that, over time, will address Ms Foo Mee Har's pertinent concerns about the timeliness of bus arrivals. We aim to trial and refine this scheme on some 25 services, or about 10% of the bus services that we have today, starting in the second half of this year. 6.45 pm For trains, reliability is an even bigger issue because a disruption or service delay affects many more commuters. I agree with Mr Cedric Foo, who spoke about the importance of train maintenance as increasing ridership puts even greater pressure on an ageing rail system. While our rail operators fare reasonably well as compared to other metro systems around the world in reliability, train withdrawals and service delays do adversely affect the travel experience. We have therefore been working closely with the PTOs to arrest the number of train withdrawals and delays. Here, I would like to share with Members a number of slides to show you what has been happening [Slides were shown to hon Members].”
“But many Members like Mr Gan Thiam Poh and Dr Lily Neo have rightly pointed out that what also matters is that the buses and trains come regularly. I share this sentiment. Even with more buses from the BSEP, commuters tell me that waiting times for buses at their bus stops can be irregular. Sometimes, they wait a long time for their bus and then two or three buses come all together, especially during peak hours, like what Ms Foo Mee Har has so eloquently described. Let me first touch on bus speeds and reliability. We will give even more priority to buses on our roads. Today, we have about 180 kilometres of bus lanes and the Mandatory Give Way to Buses Scheme at over 200 locations. Over the next two years, we will spend around $50 million to enhance bus priority. We will add about 30 kilometres more of bus lanes, increase the Mandatory Give Way to Buses Scheme by another 150 bus stops, and quadruple the number of bus hubs, where several buses can come in and pick up passengers Page: 169 or discharge them all at the same time. Currently, we have about 10 and we will quadruple that to about 40. We will also have to step up enforcement of bus priority schemes, as infringements by motorists result in delays for buses and their commuters. Over and above the existing Quality of Service standards, we will also introduce a Quality Incentive Framework to improve the regularity of bus waiting times for commuters. Under this new framework, operators will need to enhance their enroute management of their bus operations to earn incentives and to avoid penalties. This means making appropriate interventions and giving guidance to the bus drivers even as the buses are running on the roads.”
“I know many Members, like Mr Cedric Foo, Dr Lily Neo and Mr Gan Thiam Poh, remain concerned about what we can do about rail capacity in the short term. To improve the daily commuting experience on the rail network, we will be running more trains wherever possible, so that commuters will have shorter waits generally. We intend to improve train frequencies so that commuters will not need to wait more than five minutes for the next train other than during the first and the last hour or so of train operations each day when the ridership is very low. Currently, commuters sometimes have to wait as long as seven minutes, and we would like to bring that down, as I said, to about five minutes. We will also step up the frequencies of the trains during the shoulder peak periods, so that on average, each train will arrive at an interval of about three minutes. So, during the very peak periods, it is coming in now at two minutes, which is what the limit of the signalling system allows, but at the shoulders, we will step up the frequency or the headways of the trains, so that on average they will come in at about three minutes. All these improvements will require the train operators to run, we estimate, about 10% more train trips than what they are currently doing today. Commuters on the North-South and East-West Lines will benefit starting from the second half of this year. Those on the North-East and Circle Lines will benefit when the new trains are progressively delivered starting from 2015. Let me assure Members therefore that there will be more train trips during heavy-loading periods to cope with growing ridership in the coming years. I have talked about capacity improvements in the short term that will help us cope with high ridership.”
“We intend to invite tenders for these short services from the third quarter of this year, and to implement them progressively from next year onwards, provided the response from these private operators is good. Such services will add to the existing bus feeders already run by the PTOs and help us to more quickly address the problem of crowded feeder services during peak periods. So, we will push out more BSEP buses and have the PTOs run them and they will augment either the existing trunk or feeder routes as well as introduce new routes. But at the same time, we will want to try and maximise the resource from the private operators who may have some spare capacity, depending on their routings to be able to support us in these areas. Let me now talk about trains and what we are doing in that regard. Mr Liang Eng Hwa said that he "saw light at the end of the tunnel." Let me assure him that this light at the end of the tunnel is not coming from an approaching train, even though we will have many more of such trains running in the system, because we intend to increase train capacity over the next five years, as we receive new trains and complete the re-signalling in phases from 2016. SMRT has also shared with us their plans to buy another six trains on top of the 13 new trains that are coming in next year and the 22 trains that will be coming in 2016 – six more trains on top of those already announced plans, and this will increase the train fleet that we have today by about 30%. The train fleets for the North East Line and the Circle Line will also increase by about 70% and 60% respectively in 2015, when the trains that we ordered last year will be Page: 168 delivered.”
“In response to questions by, for example, Mr Gerald Giam, Mrs Lina Chiam, Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Mr Seng Han Thong and Mr Gan Thiam Poh, one of the things that we will do is to design and contract out six more City Direct bus services, which will run during the morning peak hours along the expressways into the city as well as during the evening back to the homes. The proposed new City Direct services will connect towns that are closer Page: 167 to the city area such as Ang Mo Kio and Bedok, to provide their residents with an alternative to the city other than the MRT. So, in addition to the towns that are further away, we will also include some of the towns that are nearer – Ang Mo Kio, Bedok and around the Clementi area, for instance. We will put up these six new routes for tender by private bus operators from as early as next quarter, and start rolling them out early next year. This will bring the total number of parallel bus services up from eight previously announced under BSEP to 14, and of the 14, we hope that nine will be operated by private operators. I do not yet know how they will respond, because we have just started this. In terms of pricing, in terms of the amount of competition that we will face, we will see, we do not know. But the intent is not for the two PTOs to participate. It is for the private service operators with their existing capacity to be able to service these routes. Ms Foo Mee Har asked whether bus feeder services can be improved. Apart from the City Direct-type of services, we will also work with the private operators to see if it is also possible for them to run other shorter services during peak hours, such as localised routes in estates that bring residents to the MRT stations.”
“By the end of this year, I would add another 190 buses or so, to make up about 280, or about half of the 550 buses that have been committed by the Government under the BSEP, to be delivered by the end of the year. The feedback I am getting on the ground from those who have already benefited from the BSEP is actually very positive. But many are asking me, when is my turn, and can you implement the programme faster? Members like Ms Foo Mee Har and Dr Lily Neo asked if we could do more to benefit our commuters. I have directed LTA to work with the PTOs to accelerate the BSEP. And given the good progress that we have been able to make so far, we will try to complete the bulk of the BSEP service improvements by the end of 2014, instead of 2016, as we originally envisaged. Of course, this is contingent on SBST and SMRT being able to raise salaries and recruit as well as retain enough bus drivers in a tightening labour market, but I think with some effort on all sides, we can do it. So, for those who are already benefiting from the 90 new buses introduced last year, they have indeed given very positive feedback. More will be able to benefit this year, including from Members' constituencies, and certainly by the end of 2014, we hope to have introduced the bulk of the 550 buses. As I mentioned last month, I have also asked LTA to see how we can tap on the resources of private bus operators, given that the two PTOs' resources are already very stretched.”
“We will further speed up our bus service improvements, beyond what we had earlier stated and promised under the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP). This should make for more frequent and less crowded buses, as well as more bus routes. We will also run more train trips where possible, so that commuters have shorter waiting times. Second, we will make sure that our buses and trains adhere more closely to their schedules and are more reliable. We will do this through stronger regulation, as well as incentive and penalty frameworks. Third, we will more actively manage peak travel demand on our public transportation network, so that we can spread out and reduce the peak hour loads. Let me elaborate. Mr Cedric Foo asked about how the increase in demand matches up with supply. The journeys have generally increased by about three percentage Page: 166 points each year. So, I hope Members bear that in mind as I talk about some of the improvements that we are making – journeys are increasing at three percentage points each year. At last year's Committee of Supply debate, I spoke extensively about the BSEP. This intends to increase the public bus fleet by 20% over the next five years, or about 800 new buses, with 550 funded by the Government and another 250 by the public transport operators (PTOs). I would like to update the House that progress has, generally, been good. We launched the BSEP in September last year. And as some Members have pointed out, we have injected around 90 new buses until the end of last year, to improve about 50 bus services that are currently running, as well as to implement five new routes.”