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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“Today, when there is a prolonged train service disruption, commuters within the affected stations will have their fares waived. Free bus bridging and free boarding of public buses at the affected stations are also provided, as required under LTA's regulatory standards. If penalties are levied on the operators, they will go into the Public Transport Fund to benefit needy commuters, for example, during fare adjustments. It is not straightforward to identify who should be eligible for compensation, as these could potentially include commuters who detour using alternative routes, as well as those who have to forgo their journey. Nonetheless, the Ministry will study the Member's suggestion further.”
“The expertise that concerns me most is engineering expertise and that is where I would like to have an augmentation if we deem that the Board is not sufficiently composed of the right people to give it the expertise. At the end of the day, it is not so much of a commercial entity as it is an engineering and operating company. So, I hope that some of these clarifications would have helped. I, once again, thank all three Members who have spoken for expressing their support for the changes that we are going to make for the Rapid Transit Systems Act. Page: 109 [(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)] [(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. (proc text)] [(proc text) The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. – [Mr Lui Tuck Yew]. (proc text)] [(proc text) Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed. (proc text)]”
“There was a second point that was made which is, whether penalties contribute to fare increases. We have gone through this in the House before, the formula past and the fare formula current which was put together by the Fare Review Committee (FRMC), chaired by Mr Magnus, in which a fare formula takes into account three factors: one, the core CPI; two, the wage increase; and three, the energy index. This is part of the new formula, and then there is a productivity extract. Nowhere in the formula does it take into account the penalties that are paid by the operators into the Public Transport Fund and I believe that that would continue to be so even in future should we need to review the formula. In the past as well as in the present, there is no provision in the fare formula for operators to recover their penalties through the fares. A third is on cutting bonuses and heads rolling. I would have to say that I am less interested in heads rolling. I am more interested heads fixed on and focused on identifying as well as resolving the problems, and tackling the challenges and making sure that we have a systematic way to deal with the issues at hand. Whether the CEO should be removed or not, I leave it to the Board. That is part and parcel of the Board's responsibility: to identify the most appropriate person or to remove him or her should they deem it necessary. The amendment to the Act that we have now would be for us to make sure that LTA has the ability to ask for an augmentation in the composition of the Board should it be skewed in a particular direction and if we feel that the Board is lacking in certain expertise.”
“Sometimes, these are longer than five minutes but on a number of occasions, shorter than five minutes. Three minutes, for instance. But even during a peak hour period, such unplanned withdrawals can really have a very disruptive effect on the movements of people. So, if I may share with the Members again what are some of the statistics. Last year, we reduced the number of train delays longer than five minutes by 20% across the whole MRT network from 1.49 delays for 100,000 km travelled in 2012, to 1.18 in 2013. This number of delays in 2013 is lower even than the 2010 levels. It works out to less than one such delay on the North-South East-West Lines and the North-East Line every day out of more than 2,000 train trips operated on these lines. Or put in percentage terms – I have worked it out and my Maths is a little bit better now – 99.95% of train trips operated on a daily basis across the North-South, East-West Lines and the North-East Line do not face any delays, or if they face delays, delays of less than five minutes, it is 99.95%. The next would be train withdrawals. Train withdrawal rates for the North-South East-West Lines have also fallen from 3.32 per 100,000 km travelled in 2012, to 2.25 in 2013. This year, our target is to try to reach 1.8 such withdrawals. But from 3.32 to 2.25 is a 30% improvement over that course of the year and it restores the train withdrawal rates close to what it was in 2010. For the NEL and Page: 108 the Circle Lines, we have seen a more than 25% reduction in train withdrawal rates from 2012 to 2013, with withdrawals for the Circle Line at its lowest since its opening in 2009. So, I thought we should have the more current data on that, which I gave to Members a little bit earlier.”
“He supports the Bill. Then, we do have support for the Bill. We all agree that train services are a critical part of the transport network. It is really critical to not only our daily activities but also to the economy. Therefore, we take a couple of directions in order to try and improve the overall Page: 107 reliability of the service that I will get into. One is to enhance the standards to make sure that the joint teams that have been established by LTA and the operators pay even greater attention, not only to finding and fixing the faults but also to proactively predict and prevent, meaning more attention to trend analysis, more attention to the faults that may be coming up, more attention to doing enhancements even before they are needed. That is important. At the same time, we also recognise the need, just as they have done in the telecoms infrastructure and the energy infrastructure, to look at the appropriate financial penalties that ought to be imposed on this, because these are some of the critical sectors that provide a public good and an essential service to residents. I know that both Members were not in the House earlier when we had a series of Parliamentary Questions (PQs) that were related to reliability. Perhaps, to say that there had been no consistent improvement in reliability may be unfair, so I would try to just summarise some of the key points that I talked about in my earlier reply. I said that I look at two aspects or two indicators that are most critical to me: incidents that delay the trains for more than five minutes. Anything beyond five minutes I pay a great deal of attention to it. The second is unplanned withdrawals of trains from service.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank Mr Liang Eng Hwa and Ms Lina Chiam for their expressed support for this Bill. Maybe I should ask Mr Gerald Giam, first of all, does he support or does he not support the Bill. Yes or no? [(proc text) Hon Member indicated assent. (proc text)]”
“This penalty quantum is aligned to the current penalty under section 9 for occupiers who impede the LTA's rightful access to both State and private land for inspection and survey purposes. For consistency, clause 5 also amends section 9 to align the exact circumstances under which occupiers may be penalised for such obstruction of rightful access, with the circumstances stated in the amended section 5. In summary, this Bill strengthens the LTA's regulatory oversight of the RTS licensees. It enhances its ability to develop commuter facilities at MRT stations, and supports the LTA's exercise of authority as Singapore's railway developer. Page: 101 With these amendments, LTA will be able to better achieve its overall improvement plan for the rail system to restore reliability, to raise service standards and to enhance rail connectivity for commuters' benefits. Sir, I beg to move. [(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)] 6.15 pm”
“Currently, there is no legislation that enables LTA to fit stations with commuter facilities, such as bicycle racks, except where the additional facility falls on State land within or adjoining road reserves. By amending section 4 of the RTS Act, clause 3 of the Bill allows LTA to enter State land, even if it is not adjoining road reserves, but as long as it adjoins the railway area, to construct facilities for railway commuters. In addition, clause 2 amends section 2 to introduce a new definition of "railway commuter facilities", which expressly includes bicycle racks, lifts, escalators, staircases, ramps and other amenities to enhance connectivity to MRT stations. Through clause 6 of the Bill, LTA is now empowered to develop these railway commuter facilities and to require the rail operators to maintain them as part of the station premises. The final set of amendments in the Bill enhances LTA's access to private land for the timely completion of RTS construction and improvement works. Currently, under section 5 of the RTS Act, when private land is affected by RTS construction works, land owners receive a two-month advance notice prior to occupation. There have been, however, instances where private land owners refuse to surrender their land after the two-month notice period, or demand that compensation be agreed upon before granting access. Clause 4 of the Bill hence amends section 5 to introduce a new penalty of up to $1,000 to deter land owners or occupiers from denying, obstructing, hindering or delaying LTA's access to private land for RTS construction works after LTA has fulfilled the requisite two-month advance notice period.”
“Unlike the previous maximum quantum of $1 million, setting the maximum penalty as a percentage of the fare revenue makes it commensurate with the scale of operations of the affected rail system. When deciding on the 10% maximum penalty quantum, we studied the maximum penalties of other domestically regulated services, such as energy and telecommunications. We also looked at other jurisdictions such as France and the United Kingdom. We will continue to channel penalties paid by RTS licensees into the Public Transport Fund, to fund schemes that would benefit public transport commuters such as Public Transport Vouchers for needy households. Sir, the second set of changes to the RTS Act is to enhance LTA's regulatory powers over the board composition of RTS licensees. Clause 7 of the Bill introduces a new section 18A, which empowers LTA to compel, if the situation warrants, an RTS licensee to augment its board. This is to ensure that the boards comprise the appropriate and relevant range of expertise and experience, including engineering background, needed to fulfil their primary role as public rail transport operators. We do not envisage invoking this provision lightly, as it is intrusive. However, this provision helps ensure that boards take a longer term, more sustainable view of operations, and ensure that the board is adequately equipped to discharge its responsibilities. To enforce the power given to LTA under section 18A, clause 8 includes non-compliance as an offence for which LTA may impose a penalty under Page: 100 section 19. Sir, the third set of amendments in the Bill gives LTA further powers to develop our railway facilities to benefit commuters.”
“Rail operators are now required to ensure that train frequencies do not exceed five minutes, except during periods of extremely low ridership in the early hours, morning or very late at night. New OPS will also hold operators accountable for short service delays. In addition, LTA has mandated more stringent and prescriptive Codes of Practice, which would require rail operators to review their maintenance regimes periodically, monitor and analyse trends of faults and defects, and submit reports of the trend analysis and follow-up measures to LTA. The overall maintenance approach for our rail system will also shift from a posture where we reactively "detect and rectify", to one where we proactively "predict and prevent". With stricter Page: 99 regulation of train frequencies and maintenance regimes, commuters will benefit with shorter waits for trains, and greater assurance that train journeys will not be interrupted by train faults and delays. In tandem, LTA has recalibrated its penalty guidelines for each category of regulatory breach to better reflect the severity of incidents and their impact on commuters, and enhance their deterrent effect. RTS licensees are now subject to lower tolerance and higher penalties for individual categories of regulatory breach. Overall, any incident involving multiple breaches and service disruption will warrant a higher overall financial penalty than today. To effect this, clause 8 of the Bill therefore amends section 19 of the RTS Act to raise the maximum financial penalty for each rail incident to 10% of the annual fare revenue of the licensed rapid transit system affected, or $1 million, whichever is higher.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." This Bill seeks to make changes to the Rapid Transit Systems Act to improve LTA's regulatory oversight over the Rapid Transit System (RTS) licensees and enhance LTA's ability to develop commuter facilities at MRT stations and ensure the timely construction of RTS works. There are four key areas of change. Let me first address the changes in the Bill to increase the maximum penalty for rail incidents. Earlier this afternoon, I updated the House on the progress made in improving rail reliability. This progress has come about because the rail operators have invested substantially more in maintenance, and implemented targeted measures to address train and system-related issues identified by the joint LTA-rail operator teams. While we will continue to work collaboratively with the rail operators to improve the reliability and performance of the rail system, this must be complemented by effective licensee regulations. Following the conclusion of the Committee of Inquiry investigations in 2012, LTA undertook a review of its rail regulatory framework to set higher Operating Performance Standards (OPS) for service levels, and more prescriptive and stringent Codes of Practice for maintenance and incident management. I am sure the House will remember that this is brought forward in 2013. The intent is to achieve better reliability and service levels for commuters, by enhancing the penalties for operators if they fail to prevent rail incidents and properly manage their impact on commuters and to ensure that they strengthen their maintenance regimes and operations. To this end, we have tightened the OPS, which will progressively take effect from 1 January this year.”
“I did not give Members all the statistics because we measure greater than five minutes' delay, greater than 10 minutes' delay and greater than 30 minutes' delay. We also measure whether any incident affects more than 20,000 commuters. These are some of the different metrics. The reason why I mentioned unplanned withdrawal rates is that if you have a train carrying 1,400 passengers during the peak period, and if you withdraw the train, it may take you a couple of minutes because that is almost as quickly as they can do it, but it will take quite a long time before those thousand over passengers continue on their journey. That is something that is harder to quantify in terms of impact. To me, it is an indicator that if we do not bring down the withdrawal rates, then we do run the possibility that it will one day happen during the peak hour and affect far more commuters than it would during, say, the middle of the afternoon. Page: 32”
“The second, for example, is a system to monitor the collector shoes. Members will remember that this was the cause of the major disruptions back in 2011. There is a system now to monitor the health of these collector shoes on an ongoing basis. These are the things that we continue to explore to try to make sure that they have real-time, including telemetric data that is being sent back, so that they can be analysed as well as, in certain instances, trigger rectification action on an urgent basis.”
“I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. I meet up with the senior management of SMRT and SBST roughly on a quarterly basis to run through reliability issues, what they have managed to accomplish and what is still outstanding, to urge that they put in greater resources, for example, for re-sleepering, resignalling works and so on. My feel after talking to the SMRT team is that they take it seriously. As the CEO himself told me, the team was actually very disappointed themselves with the series of incidents as well as with how staff on the ground had handled them. We agreed that SMRT should review their contingency plans on a station-by-station basis rather than to have a more generic plan that covers stretches of their rail system because you do need very specific drawer plans that you can activate at a time of contingency. On condition monitoring, which I believe is the Member's second supplementary question, already some of that has been done. For example, there are a couple of trains that have been instrumented – these are operational trains so, therefore, they run across the entire network, that is, the North-South Line and the East-West Line – to, for example, detect whether there are sags in the third rail. Indeed, there was a recent incident where we had to require the train to, fortunately, make a bypass through the Bishan Depot because one of these trains picked up a minor sag in the third rail around the Ang Mo Kio-Bishan area and, because we were able to pick it up in time, the team decided Page: 31 that they would want to rectify it as quickly as possible, and we were in a position to be able to do a bypass for the train. Within about 10 minutes, they had managed to rectify it. That is one.”
“As mentioned in my reply, certainly for the recent spate of disruptions, we do find shortcomings in how it was handled by SMRT in terms of the announcements not only to the affected commuters but also in making sure that people who are joining the network understand where the disruptions are, approximately how long it may take to recover, as well as to find and offer alternative modes of transportation. Page: 30 On fare increment, it is best to separate these two issues. While I understand the emotions involved in it, we also have recently completed the Fare Review Mechanism Committee (FRMC) report. The FRMC report came up with a formulation that all parties ought to try to abide by and follow, which is to compute the fare adjustment on an annual basis, with room to roll over by taking into account the macro factors of wage increases, core CPI, as well as the energy index.”
“As part of its investigations, LTA will highlight gaps in the SMRT's communication with affected commuters and work closely with both operators to share learning experiences and to further improve their incident management. The SMRT senior management team has already committed to review its contingency plans on a station-by-station basis and to refine its command-and-control structure in times of disruption so as to provide better ground support to its staff. Er Dr Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon): Madam, I have two supplementary questions for the Minister. First question: the disruption of 20 January 2014, which was at Ang Mio Kio station, had affected many of my residents because they were travelling to the city to work. I understand that the disruption was for more than 20 minutes and the residents said that there was no communication, they did not know what happened and it was very stuffy – no ventilation. I would like to ask the Minister what can be done because the train operator has been doing this all the time and still such things happened. My second question is: it is good that the Minister called in the higher management of the train operators when this thing happened. I would like to ask the Minister whether the Minister would call in the higher management again to ask them to forgo the fare increment which has been recommended by PTC because the service is still not satisfactory.”
“In 2014, the North-South East-West Lines' third rail system will undergo a full, system-wide change-out. We will also be improving the North-East Line's overhead power system with new corrosion-resistant materials, to minimise the recurrence of stress-corrosion cracking in its components that afflicted parts of the tunnel, particularly to the south, back in 2012 as well as the earlier part of 2013. So, we have, overall, made some strides in the right direction, but there is certainly room for further improvement. Thus far, the joint teams that LTA has set up with SMRT and SBST have adopted a fine-and-fix approach to rectify existing issues with the rail systems. Following the completion of separate consultancy studies that we have activated on both of the operators, both operators will, going forward, adopt a new predict-and-prevent approach to their respective maintenance regimes. Under this new approach, operators will undertake active condition monitoring of rail systems and formulate maintenance processes to optimise the performance of the assets over their life cycles. Page: 29 In our perspective, we understand that service disruptions do happen from time to time, especially as the rail network expands and ages, and as we run more and more train trips. But in the case of the January incidents, SMRT could have done much better in service recovery, especially to provide timely information to affected commuters. The LTA's Code of Practice requires operators to put out announcements at stations and through various media platforms to provide clear and timely status updates and to advise commuters on alternate travel options, such as the free boarding of public buses and shuttle services between affected stations.”
“We estimate that SMRT has increased its annual repair and maintenance expenditure for its two rail lines by about 65% over the course of these two years, with $64.5 million spent in FY2013 compared to $38.3 million in FY2011. Even when we normalise the Page: 28 repair and maintenance expenditure per train-kilometre for the North-South East-West Lines, so as to reflect the higher usage as well as the ridership that had taken place in these lines, the maintenance and repair expenditure had gone up by over a third in these two years. It clearly reflects a considerable step-up in resources and efforts to intensify maintenance and fix reliability issues. Beyond this, the LTA-SMRT Joint Team is working on other measures to upgrade the trains and systems of the Compass Lines, which will involve major investments of about $500 million to overhaul the older trains by 2016 and upgrade the signalling system by 2018. Likewise, SBST has stepped up improvement works to rectify tunnel leakages and change out problematic components of the overhead power system in the North-East Line tunnels. It will be commencing a comprehensive mid-life upgrading programme for the North-East Line trains, which are just over 10 years old. The two operators have also ramped up their engineering capabilities and processes, and hired more engineers as well as expanded their maintenance teams. On LTA's part, we are upgrading the rail infrastructure to improve reliability. The replacement of ageing timber sleepers with concrete sleepers on the North-South and East-West Lines has been under way since 2012, while the replacement of traction power cables on the Circle Line has been completed. These traction power cables were the cause of a series of disruptions back in 2012. Some of you may remember this.”
“On train withdrawals, the rates for the North-South and East-West Lines have also fallen, from 3.32 withdrawals for every 100,000 km travelled in 2012, to 2.25 withdrawals in 2013. This is about a 30% improvement. Again, what we have done is to have restored the train withdrawal rates close to the 2010 levels. For this year, the target for the North-South and East-West Lines is to bring this figure from 2.25 further down to about 1.8. Likewise, we have also seen a more than 25% reduction in train withdrawal rates from 2012 to 2013 for both the North East and the Circle Lines. Indeed, the withdrawals for the Circle Line are at its lowest since it first opened in 2009. It is not easy to compare service disruption rates across different countries and systems, in part because of differences in age, length of networks, loading frequency of services and so on, but more so because such data is generally not made publicly available by the operators, unlike our practice which is that every three months, we put this data out on the LTA website, so that Members of Parliament and interested members of the public can actually scrutinise the data comprehensively. But I note that that for each of the past two years, Hong Kong's MTR – which has a very good record – its domestic rail lines have experienced about three to four major service disruptions of more than 30 minutes, which is similar to SMRT's North-South and East-West Lines. But, again, obviously the size of the network, the loading, the frequency of services are not quite the same. The improvements in reliability we are seeing have come about because the operators have invested substantially more in maintenance and system upgrading, especially over the past two years.”
“Mdm Speaker, I fully understand and empathise with commuters' frustrations over the recent spate of rail disruptions in January at Kranji, Ang Mo Kio and Tanah Merah. I had called in SMRT's senior management to convey my grave concerns and find out the reasons behind the spate of disruptions and what SMRT was doing to ensure that this was not the start of a new trend of disruptions. I was especially perturbed because I knew that there had actually been a lot of hard work put in by the team at SMRT as well as the SBST team, together with LTA, to improve train reliability over the last two years. And we had actually made good progress in so doing. I monitor two indicators very closely. Firstly, the number of delays that are more than five minutes; and secondly, the number of unplanned train withdrawals, because some of these train withdrawals may be shorter than five minutes, and yet if it occurred during peak hours, it can be very disruptive. That is also a very pertinent indicator that I ought to pay close attention to. Page: 27 On the first indicator, last year, we reduced the number of train delays longer than five minutes by 20% across the whole MRT network, from 1.49 delays for every 100,00 km travelled in 2012, to 1.18 in 2013. The number of delays in 2013 was lower than that achieved back in 2010. What it means in terms of the number of trips that are made every day on the main lines – the North-South East-West Lines as well as the North East Line – is that it works out to just under one such delay for every 2,000 train trips that are operated on these two lines. Put in another way, 99.95%, or except one out of every 2,000 trips would not experience any delay, or a delay of less than five minutes.”
“Mdm Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 8 to 10 together?”
“These being new schemes, we need more time to set up the frameworks and processes, and to cater to potentially half a million applicants. Let me assure the Member that my Ministry, the public transport operators and TransitLink will extensively publicise the enhanced and new concession Page: 120 schemes in the coming weeks, so that potential beneficiaries are made aware and can apply for and enjoy the concessions.”
“The Public Transport Council (PTC) announced its decision on the 2013 fare adjustment last week. Although both public transport operators had applied for a fare increase of 6.6%, which is the combined fare cap for 2012 and 2013, the PTC approved an overall net fare increase of 3.2%, and rolled over the remaining 3.4% to the 2014 fare review exercise. I would like to thank the Council for taking into consideration my earlier request during the November 2013 parliamentary sitting for the fare increase not to exceed the average national wage increase for 2013, which should come in at about 4-5%. The 3.2% fare increase is well below this and, hence, public transport fares will continue to be affordable for the average commuter. At the same time, the PTC decided to implement several enhancements to existing fare concession schemes as recommended by the Fare Review Mechanism Committee (FRMC). Up to half a million commuters stand to benefit. These include young children, students, in particular, Polytechnic students, senior citizens and adult commuters who are heavy users of public transport. The PTC decided that these enhancements will come into effect on the same day as the fare increase, that is, 6 April 2014. On its part, the Government has decided to implement fare concession schemes for two groups of commuters who may be most impacted by the fare increase, that is lower-wage workers who are under MOM's Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme, and persons with disabilities. Eligible recipients will be notified around 6 April to apply for the two concession schemes, which will take effect from 6 July 2014. Transport vouchers will be provided to help them for the interim period between the fare increase on 6 April, and 6 July when the concessions take effect.”
“Thank you very much. Mdm Speaker, that is indeed a very good question. It is something that we have been trying to do because we introduced the taxi availability standards that have two basic indicators. The first is to require the taxi, not the driver, to clock 250 km a day. The percentage of the fleet that is required to clock 250 km per day by company has been stepped up. This is the second year of implementation and we will continue to step up the requirement for the percentage to hit 250 km. In addition to that, we also have a requirement for the percentage of taxis to be on the road or the percentage of taxis to be on the road during various hours of the day. The requirement is, of course, higher during the peak hours. The details are available in LTA's website if the Member is interested. Page: 37”
“Mdm Speaker, today we have about 28,000 taxis in our taxi fleet and more than 98% of taxis in Singapore are already equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS)-based location systems. The taxi companies, with the exception of Prime, have equipped their taxis in order to comply with the new Taxi Service Operator Licence (TSOL) requirements that were announced in 2012 and which took effect when they renewed their licences in 2013. As I said, the only exception is Prime because their licence expires only in 2017, but it is already progressively upgrading its taxis with GPS-based location systems and targets to complete this by the third quarter of 2014.”
“We also have to try and arrive at a position and at a model that is fair to all parties concerned. With greater demand, there will be calls for greater injection of resources. So, we are trying to find a balance between incentives and penalties in order to arrive at a better situation than what we have today.”
“Again, some very good questions. These were exactly the same things we also asked Transport for London. They, too, have a scheme where they provide more incentives as compared to penalties – one and a half times – which is what we have also adopted. When we thought through it, we came to about the same conclusion as to why London did it this way. There is a certain amount of investment that the operators have to make in order for this to work. It is not just hoping that conditions will allow your buses to become more regular or that the bus drivers themselves will talk to each other but, essentially, a system to monitor, direct and, if necessary, to inject additional resources. That is one way to look at it because there is a certain outlay that the operators would have to be responsible for in order for this to work. On road conditions, the Member is right. Not everything is within the control of the PTOs and, certainly, they try to emphasise that point very much to us. The counter to that is: it, therefore, requires them to pay greater attention Page: 31 to road conditions, to know when there are works taking place or to be familiar with the peculiarities of the route and even at specified time intervals, because while conditions change on a day-to-day basis – and I grant you that – there are some things that do not change. So, they have to factor these in and plan accordingly.”
“That, indeed, is a series of very good and pertinent questions. These are some of the same things that we posed to Transport for London when we visited them. I would have to say that this is an idea that we took from Transport for London. They assured us that if we looked at it over a number of years – and they have improved on their procedures and operations – that these were not areas that proved to be of great concern. We look at London, for instance. They have been operating this as far as I know since 2000. Over a dozen years, they have improved from an EWT of about two minutes to about one minute. They attributed this to a significant improvement in the reliability of the service as well as customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction went up by 60%. They felt that some of these concerns Page: 30 that we raised with them were manageable, and seen against the improvements as well as the derived satisfaction of customers, it was well worth making. They told us that the greater pressure comes on the people at the backend, because they will have to make decisions on how the buses move and how to close the gap, or whether they should inject an additional bus enroute because of congestion mid-stream, and so on. Indeed, when they summarised it for us, we felt that the additional stress on the drivers was not so significant – certainly manageable – and it would be the training of the people at the backend and the system that you have in place that will allow us eventually, we hope, to make the greatest improvements.”
“I think this will have to evolve over time. The truth is that there would be additional stress on the system as a whole. What the Public Transport Operators (PTOs) would need to do is to significantly improve their backend operations. They also need to train people at the Ops Control centre to be monitoring these buses much more closely and to give directions to the drivers accordingly. Indeed, the situation that Mr Lim had suggested could well come up. I suspect that even today, there is always a certain amount of pressure already on the buses to adhere to the schedule to get back to the interchange on time, Page: 29 so that they can start the next run. There is always a certain amount of pressure. Having said that, we can look at the safety records of the two operators against the standard that is set for them. What is the standard? The standard is 0.75 accidents per 100,000 km drive. Buses cover quite a lot of distance on a daily basis, so it is best to measure this against 100,000 km and on a consistent basis. The standard that we set for them is 0.75 accidents per 100,000 km across the fleet. This is roughly equivalent to us, as a driver of a private vehicle getting into an accident once every six or seven years. That is the standard we set for them. For the past few years, when we look at the records, we have found that both operators have exceeded this, meaning they have performed better than 0.75. The record has generally been a good one. This is something that we will be watching but it is not something that worries us unduly at this point in time.”
“Bus operators also provide incentives for bus captains who drive safely and have a good record.”
“Excess Wait Time (EWT) measures how regular a specific bus service is. It is an average score measured across all the trips for a single bus service. It is assessed at several bus stops along the way and every bus service has its own specific EWT, depending on how regular and reliable that bus service is. For example, a bus service that is operating at a perfect, regular 10-minute interval will have an average wait time of five minutes, and an EWT of zero. An EWT of 0.1 minute for this service means that the commuter is likely to wait six seconds more, on average, compared to the EWT of 0 minute. However, as the EWT is an average score, I should make it clear that the actual commuter experience waiting at a specific bus stop could be different. Page: 28 But over time, if we keep on reducing the EWT, there would be a perceptible improvement in bus reliability for our commuters. That has been the experience for London which had implemented a reliability framework of the same kind for more than a dozen years already. Typically, they would regard a 0.5-minute or 30-second reduction in EWT as a significant improvement. The Bus Service Reliability Framework, while intended to get buses to arrive at bus stops at more regular intervals, we do not believe will encourage unsafe driving behaviour. Bus captains will be instructed by the service controllers to slow down, or even hold at bus stops for a minute or two, provided the bus does not obstruct traffic and other buses. Bus captains found to be driving recklessly or flouting road traffic rules will be subject to discipline by the bus operators or even charged by the Traffic Police. Bus operators have Standard Operating Procedures on safe driving standards, and safe driving skills are continually reinforced.”
“Mdm Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 13 and 14 together, please?”
“Bus operators have to incur additional costs to monitor and improve en-route reliability and regularity of the trial bus services under the Bus Service Reliability Framework (BSRF). For example, the operators need to hire and train more bus controllers to manage bus services more closely, instruct bus drivers to slow down and mobilise standby buses. The operators may also need to modify and enhance their operations control systems. Hence, there must be some net financial incentive in the design of this Framework. We have also looked closely at overseas examples, in particular, the London system which has worked well and been carefully refined over many years. For a start, we have modelled our incentive-penalty structure for this BSRF pilot quite closely after the London system, but we will certainly review and improve along the way to make it cost-effective to benefit commuters who have consistently mentioned reliability of buses as a priority area for improvement. The BSRF will be funded by the Government, as it is a trial to assess whether it can improve the reliability of our bus services.”
“There were about 1,500 traffic violations by pedestrians and motorists annually in Little India between 2009 and 2013. During the same period, there was an average of about 90 fatal or injury accidents each year. Prior to 8 December 2013, the Little India Bus Services ferried about 23,000 foreign workers to and from Little India every Sunday. To manage traffic congestion, LTA deploys enforcement officers and traffic wardens to detect and deter illegal parking along the roads in Little India. Traffic schemes, such as the one-way traffic on Hampshire Road between 6 pm to 11 pm, also helped to reduce the occurrence of traffic bottlenecks and ensure better traffic flow. For crowd control, the Singapore Police Force deploys Auxiliary Police Officers (APOs) and Security Officers to patrol areas where foreign workers congregate. Page: 156”
“The cross-border movement of vehicles is governed by the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic 1949. Singapore and some of our neighbouring countries, such as Malaysia and Thailand, are signatories to the Convention. Vehicles from these countries that meet the minimum standards on vehicle construction and functionality prescribed under the Convention are deemed to be safe and allowed to enter Singapore. Most ASEAN member countries have also formally agreed that goods and public service vehicles should be subject to periodic inspections, and that inspection regimes would be mutually recognised. For example, Singapore recognises the Page: 155 vehicle requirement and inspection regimes of Malaysia and Thailand, and vice versa, and enforcement is against the standards set by the country of registration. Enforcement is usually carried out in the vicinity of the immigration checkpoints by the Land Transport Authority. Vehicles are inspected and fined or required to turn back if they do not meet the required standards.”
“Parking is indeed a useful tool to manage private car usage. Although the Government does not currently regulate parking fees, car parking requirements in the Central Business District (CBD) have been progressively lowered over time in line with the development of the public transport network. In 2002, LTA lowered parking requirements by about 20% for commercial buildings in the CBD. In 2005, LTA and URA allowed developments in the CBD to provide up to 20% fewer parking spaces than what the standards require. In 2008, URA allowed building owners to convert the surplus car park lots above the prevailing standards to other uses, such as offices. It will take some time for these provisions to take full effect, but we will continue to engage and facilitate building owners who are keen to convert their excess car park lots to other uses. Page: 146”
“Taxis play an important role in our transport system as they provide personalised, point-to-point transport to complement mass public transport such as trains and buses. We regulate service levels and have recently introduced taxi availability standards to ensure that they better fulfil this role. We will continue to monitor and make further adjustments where necessary. The taxi rental agreement is a private, commercial contract between the taxi driver and his or her taxi company. Rental rates vary across and within companies, as they take into consideration the cost of buying, operating and maintaining the taxis. Companies also offer different rental rates and terms and conditions to compete for hirers. Potential hirers can therefore choose to rent from the company that offers the most competitive terms, and which best suit his or her needs. As for the Member's question on mandatory rest days, taxi drivers have different preferences for schedules and working hours. We should not be prescriptive in mandating the number of rest days or rent-free days. All the taxi companies currently provide rent-free days, ranging from two to 60 days per year, as part of their benefit packages for their hirers. There is also flexibility in the current system as taxi hirers can make arrangements with relief drivers, should they wish to have more rest days. That said, I would like to encourage all taxi companies to consider how they can be more flexible with their contracts to improve the welfare of their drivers. Page: 144”
“The proposed Eastern Region Line is currently in the detailed design phase. The gazetting of the alignment and location of MRT stations is targeted to take place in the second half of this year. Page: 143”
“The Fuel Equalisation Fund (FEF) was set up to help the public transport operators manage the impact of fuel price fluctuations. Since the establishment of the Fund in 1992, about $25 million has been drawn down. The current balance in the Fund is about $60 million. The Fare Review Mechanism Committee (FRMC) has recommended including a new Energy Index component in the fare formula, which has since been accepted by the Government. The FRMC has also noted in its report that the Public Transport Council (PTC) could review the need for the FEF, and I believe the PTC will follow up in due course to undertake such a review with inputs from the public transport operators. Page: 134”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank the Member for that supplementary question. I am glad that the Member had caught on to this very important threshold speed of 65 km/h. Indeed, at various time belts, both in the mornings and evenings along the MCE and ECP, speeds have gone above 65 km/h. LTA is currently doing a review of the ERP charges for the coming quarter, which is from February to end April. I believe that they will announce the results in due course.”
“It displayed more traffic advisories upstream, disseminated more real-time information through radio and social media, erected more signages at prominent places, and deployed more traffic marshals. LTA also increased the number of left turning lanes from two to four at the junction of Marina Station Road and Central Boulevard, converted a short stretch of Central Boulevard from two to four lanes towards Raffles Quay, and also adjusted traffic light timings in the area. Page: 22 As to the Member's question on the key lessons from this episode, I think that we could have done more to help motorists familiarise themselves with the new road network. We had opened the MCE on a Sunday during the December holidays when traffic volumes would be lower, as we felt it would be an easier time for motorists to adjust. LTA had also embarked on publicity efforts across various media platforms and directly briefed groups of affected stakeholders from November 2013. However, some motorists may have missed out on this publicity as it was during the school holiday period. In retrospect, we could have stepped up the publicity closer to the opening date. We could also have provided even more signages along the MCE and adjoining roads, as well as further upstream, so that motorists can be more familiar with the signs and have earlier guidance on where they ought to go.”
“Mdm Speaker, 30 December 2013 was the first working day after the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) was opened. Except for that morning, peak hour traffic along the MCE tunnel and the adjoining road network has been good and smooth, even though traffic volumes have returned to the levels prior to the December school holidays. In fact, speeds along the MCE and downgraded East Coast Parkway (ECP) are now generally faster than they were on the old ECP. Some observers had concluded, in the immediate aftermath of the jam, that there was a design flaw with the MCE. I think that was a premature conclusion; if there had been a design flaw, we would likely have seen congestion, not only for that particular morning, but in the number of mornings to follow and, perhaps, even in the evenings as well. The congestion in the morning of 30 December was due to a number of other factors, including motorists who were driving on the MCE for the first time and were unfamiliar with the new road network, and therefore, were driving more carefully, or not taking the most appropriate route. For example, many motorists travelling east to west did not enter the MCE near Fort Road to connect to the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE), but instead continued along the ECP, and entered the MCE via Marina Boulevard. All these factors played a part in causing the severe jam that morning, but I am glad to know that motorists soon adjusted and we saw in a very short time a much better flow of traffic. This is clear from the ERP traffic data that we have collected in the intervening days. LTA responded immediately to improve the situation.”
“As part of the project to widen Braddell Road, LTA is building a slip road from Lorong 8 Toa Payoh for buses to directly enter the bus bay along Braddell Road, in front of Blocks 216 to 221. After widening, the distance between the road and residential blocks remain well within URA's Page: 126 guidelines. Dense planting of trees will be implemented along this strip to help mitigate any increase in road traffic noise.”
“Both public transport operators (PTOs) deploy staff at high demand bus stops and bus interchanges during peak periods to facilitate passengers boarding the buses and to encourage them to move to the rear. These have helped to enable more passengers to board the buses. All-door boarding is already implemented for some high frequency bus services, under dedicated staff supervision at bus interchanges. LTA and the PTOs will continue to review where there is scope to do more of such, taking into account fare evasion and passenger safety concerns. Ultimately, however, moving to the rear of the bus is every commuter's responsibility. LTA works with the Public Transport Council, Singapore Kindness Movement and the PTOs to encourage commuters to adopt gracious behaviours. Earlier in April, LTA launched a series of posters and videos as part of a graciousness initiative called "Make it Right for a Better Ride" to, amongst other things, encourage commuters to move to the back of the bus. LTA will also explore other channels to promote graciousness so as to make commuting on public transport a more pleasant experience.”
“Since its formation at the end of last year, the Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety Committee (PCSC) has been engaging stakeholders and reviewing safety initiatives. Initiatives improving cycling safety that have been implemented include a safe cycling guidebook launched in June 2013. On pedestrian safety, new "LOOK" road markings have been painted at selected zebra crossings to remind pedestrians to look out for traffic before crossing the road. There are also new "Give Way to Pedestrians" signs at selected traffic junctions to remind motorists when they make right turns to look out for and give way to pedestrians. In conjunction with the Singapore Road Safety Month 2013, the SRSC organised a series of outreach events for the elderly, students, motorcyclists as well as heavy vehicles owners and drivers to raise awareness of road safety. The PCSC is also reviewing what more can be done for vulnerable groups, such as school children and the elderly, and will share more details later this year. Page: 194”
“LTA and HDB have been working with car-sharing operators to provide parking spaces in locations where there is possibly higher demand for car-sharing services. We expect the operators to put up 18 more stations in the coming months, which would be about a 20% increase in the total number of stations, with two to three cars at each station. The process of identifying suitable locations is a continuous one, and LTA and HDB will need Page: 193 to take into consideration the competing demand for parking from resident car owners. The Private Car Rental Scheme (PCRS) was introduced in 1996 to allow non-car owners access to private transport during weekends and public holidays. LTA's review indicates that the scheme is adequate and that current levels of demand do not justify further liberalisation for now.”
“By the end of this year, LTA will put up signs along Wan Tho Avenue to advise motorists heading towards the city and the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) to use Pheng Geck Avenue and Tai Thong Crescent. The developer of Sennett Residences is also widening Wan Tho Avenue near the junction with Upper Serangoon Road ahead of the development completion date. This will help to ease the traffic queue along Wan Tho Avenue.”
“The ERP rates on the East Coast Parkway (ECP) towards the city and the southbound Central Expressway (CTE) after Braddell Road between 8.30 am and 9.00 am on weekdays were increased to $6 on 5 August 2013 and 4 November 2013 respectively. Since the rate adjustments, traffic conditions on the ECP have improved and travel speeds have increased to within the optimal range of 45 km/h to 65 km/h. For the CTE, it is too early to tell as it will take time for motorists to adapt their travel patterns to the new rates. Page: 169”
“LTA announced the award of six City Direct services to five private bus operators on 9 November 2013, which would be launched progressively from January 2014 to second quarter of 2014. The LTA has decided that for the remaining three City Direct services, there should be a re-tender to ensure we have competitive bids, to comply with Government procurement principles. The re-tender is expected to take place at the end of the month.”
“The purpose of the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) is to manage congestion on our roads by influencing motorists’ driving behaviour. ERP rates are adjusted periodically so that the speeds on our roads remain within the optimal range. With advanced knowledge of ERP rates, motorists can decide whether to travel as planned, take a different route, travel at a different time, or even change their mode of travel to public transport. If we freeze the rates as suggested, we will have more congested roads. At the same time, I want to reassure the Member that we are doing our best to improve public transport. With the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP), waiting times have come down by three to five minutes for some bus services, and the number of persistently crowded bus services has also come down by about 40%. The rail network will be expanded to improve connectivity and capacity. For instance, the first stage of the Downtown Line will open next month. In addition, more trains will enter service from 2014, and with the completion of the signalling system upgrade for the North-South and East-West Lines by 2016 and 2018 respectively, we can look forward to even more improvements in frequencies and capacity. Page: 168”