'Paltry' fines: Public Transport Council explains

WE THANK Mr Mark Woon ('Transport operators' standards won't improve with paltry fines'), Ms Lim Gia Gia ('Explain rationale') and Mr Richard Seah ('How can minuscule fines make a difference?') for their letters on Oct 25.

The Public Transport Council imposes financial penalties for non-compliance with Quality of Service (QoS) standards, and publicises them to send a clear signal to bus operators to improve. The penalties range from $100 each day for each lapse to $10,000 a month for more serious instances.

While the penalty for each lapse may not be large, the cumulative penalties for systematic lapses in service standards can be significant. For instance, if each operator's bus services consistently fail any daily loading requirements just once a week, the penalty over six months can amount to $676,000.

For the six-month period from last December to May, SBS Transit and SMRT largely met the QoS standards. The bus operators would have faced stiffer financial penalties if they had recorded more instances of non-compliance, or failed in meeting serious standards, such as those pertaining to commuter safety.

The penalty framework has helped spur bus operators to keep within QoS standards. Standards have been tightened progressively to improve service.

In 2007, the QoS standards were tightened to require at least 80 per cent of basic bus services to operate at headways of not more than 10 minutes during weekday peak hours, compared with 15 minutes previously.

In 2008, an additional measure for feeder bus services required at least 85 per cent of them to operate at headways of not more than 10 minutes during weekday peak periods. This requirement was raised to at least 90 per cent in August 2009.
Eugene Tan
Secretary
Public Transport Council
ST Forum, 9 Dec 2011