Govt moves to tackle commuter woes; BUS and train fares will remain unchanged in 2012

It aims to cut waiting time, ease crowding and raise service levels
By Goh Chin Lian, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2012

COMMUTERS can expect a shorter wait and less crowding on buses and trains as the Government rolls out an aggressive plan to increase their numbers and frequency.

They will also get a reprieve this year from fare increases as a committee goes into a huddle to seek a new formula for fare adjustments that will kick in next year.

The raft of measures announced by Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew yesterday is a response to commuter complaints about the long wait and tight squeeze on public transport amid a rapid rise in population and ridership.



Reflecting their distress, an annual survey of more than 3,100 regular bus and MRT commuters by UniSIM last October shows satisfaction levels have dropped, especially for buses.

Public transport was rated most poorly on three fronts: waiting time, reliability and comfort. But MRT services probably took a big hit too, after the two major train service disruptions last December, two months after the survey was done.

Tackling the two services in turn, Mr Lui said improvements had been made in the rail system, like the complete opening of the Circle Line last October.

Morning crowds have since eased by 3 to 5 per cent on the North-South Line between Bishan and Novena, and 5 to 10 per cent on the North-East Line between Serangoon and Little India.

Going forward, capacity on the rail network will be ramped up, with 60 more train trips to be added weekly on the North-East Line during the morning rush hour, starting next month. In addition, more trains will be added to all existing lines in the next three to four years, increasing the numbers they can carry by between 40 and 70 per cent.

A new MRT section will also be opened every year in the next five years, beginning with the Downtown Line stretch from Bugis to Chinatown next year.

With the Downtown Line fully opened in 2017 and extensions made to existing MRT lines, 400,000 households will be within a 400m radius - a five-minute walk - of an MRT station, said Mr Lui.

Turning to the controversial $1.1 billion package to improve bus services while rail capacity is being built up, he outlined the higher service standards that will be required of public transport operators SBS Transit and SMRT, in return for the Government's unprecedented move to pay for 550 new buses and cover their net operational costs for 10 years. The standards focused on peak hours in the mornings and evenings. For instance, these stipulate that 95 per cent of feeder buses must run at 10-minute intervals, up from 90 per cent.

About 40 new routes will also be added, including eight that run parallel to crowded MRT lines from far-flung housing estates to the city centre.

Improvements, like a greater success in boarding the first bus, should be visible by end-2014, when 70 per cent of the new buses will be rolled out, Mr Lui said.

The billion-dollar package was a top concern of the more than 20 MPs who spoke on transport issues since the start of the Budget marathon last Tuesday.

Mr Lui assured the House that the massive injection of public funds was necessary as bus operators' finances cannot fund the substantial step-up in capacity and service levels.

He pledged his ministry will ensure the operators do not profit from the one-off measure, reiterating the assurance Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam gave in his closing Budget speech last week.

Bus operators will also get a boost in their finances. In the new bus financing framework, the Government will pay for bus depots and bus parks, as well as share with them some of the advertisement revenue from bus shelters.

To further ease crowding during rush hours, a new inter-ministry workgroup will look into flexible work arrangements to stagger the times people go to work.

In his speech on public transport, Mr Lui announced moves to improve taxi services as well. These include higher call booking standards and a study to nip the problem of taxis disappearing when customers need them most.

Getting going on transport crunch

TRAINS
Less congestion, shorter waits

- More than 100 trains to be added on MRT and LRT lines over next five years.

- Trains will run at shorter intervals after lines upgraded.

- 60 more train trips per week on North-East Line during morning peak hours from next month.

BUSES

More frequent services, routes

- More feeder services to run 10 minutes apart during rush hour.

- 300 new buses for existing services, 250 for new routes.

- 40 new bus routes, including eight linking outlying housing estates to Central Business District.

TAXIS

More available, better services

- Higher service standards for taxi operators, including waiting times for call booking.

- Taxis to have centrally controlled 'On Call' display to prevent misuse.

- Minimum fleet size to go up from 400 to 800.

FARES

- No change in bus and train fares this year.

- Fare formula being reviewed, to be introduced next year.

Speech (Part 1 - Public Transport) by Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Minister for Transport, for COS 2012

Speech (Part 2 - Private Transport) by Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Minister for Transport, for COS 2012

New govt funding model for bus operators
By Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2012

BUS operators will get advertising revenue from bus stops, and their depots and parking spaces will be built by the Government, under a new financing model for them.

With the Government footing the bill for land and development costs, the financing framework for the bus system will be closer to that for the rail system.

It will also make it easier for new operators to enter the industry when it opens up, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said yesterday, without setting out any timeline on when such plans will be rolled out.

Indeed, he said, while plans for contestability are on track, time is still needed to study them.

During the debate on his ministry's budget, Mr Lui noted that there is 'a marked difference between the support given to the bus and rail sectors'.

The Government now funds once-off development and land costs for rail depots. Rail operators have the right to generate and keep non-fare revenue, such as advertising revenue in MRT stations.

To bring bus financing in line with that for rail, the Government will fund development and land costs for bus depots and parking - now paid for by SBS Transit and SMRT - and lease them at a nominal fee.

Operators will also get a share of the advertising licensing fees that the Government collects from companies that manage the bus stop billboards.

Transport experts yesterday applauded the move to redress the imbalance between bus and rail financing.

The new financing will mean operators can focus on other service improvements. Also, the revenue from advertising might mean less reliance on fare increases, said Dr Park Byung Joon, head of the Master of Science in Urban Transport Management programme at SIM University.

Mr Lui also argued in favour of the current hybrid public transport model.

In last week's Budget debate, Dr Janil Puthucheary (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) asked if public transport operators should be fully nationalised or privatised.

Some have said that since the Government is injecting $1.1 billion into commercially run SBS Transit, it should just nationalise public transport, said Mr Lui. But this 'mixes up two different issues'.

One is how much to subsidise public transport. The other is whether the operators should be state-owned or commercial.

The long-term public interest is best served if public transport operation is left to commercial entities, said Mr Lui.

Such operators have a profit incentive to be efficient and productive. Cost-savings are passed on to commuters in the form of lower fare increases.

With an inefficiently run system, 'the public will ultimately pay for the higher operating costs, either through higher fares, or greater government subsidies'.

Mr Lui noted that in general, the most efficiently run public transport is provided by commercially driven entities.

Yet the Government must still take control in key areas, he added. It must plan for rail lines and bus routes, regulate fares, specify service levels, and decide when capacity should be ramped up.

Thus, the Rapid Transit Systems Act was amended in 2010 to implement a new rail financing framework. The Downtown Line is the first line to fall under it.

Previously, operators owned and ran rail operating assets. Under the new framework, the Government will take over ownership, and decide when to procure new assets and improve capacity.

The bus financing framework must be similarly relooked, said Mr Lui.

Meanwhile, the Government has not changed its long-term intention to introduce competition in the bus industry, said Mr Lui, in response to a question by Mr Cedric Foo (Pioneer).

Mr Lui said the Government plans to carve out 'meaningful packages of bus routes', some of which will be put up for competitive tender. Such a major change will take time to prepare for and execute, and should not be rushed, he added.

Mr Foo later asked what would be considered a reasonable return on investment for public transport operators.

Mr Lui did not give a figure, but said that while the return on total assets has been declining, it remains high.

He observed that in the past, rail operators could earn revenue from assets that were recorded on the Land Transport Authority's books, and not their own.

This will change because such operators must now buy over those assets, and pay an annual licence charge.

No change to fares this year
By Tessa Wong, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2012

BUS and train fares will remain unchanged this year while the fare formula is being reviewed.

But when the revised formula is introduced next year, this stay on fares will be taken into consideration in the calculation of new fares.

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, in disclosing the suspension of this year's fare adjustment exercise, said that 'while this review is ongoing, we should not rush to implement this year's fare adjustment', even though public transport operators are facing significant cost pressures, particularly for their bus operations.

He had suggested the suspension to Mr Gerard Ee, who agreed to it. Mr Ee is chairman of the Public Transport Council (PTC), an independent body that regulates the transport industry.

The review should lead to a framework that would 'continue to achieve a good balance between affordable public transport fares and sustainable public transport operations, and which continues to ensure productivity and efficiency', said Mr Lui.

The review committee will be headed by PTC member and former senior district judge Richard Magnus.

The panel will propose improvements to the framework for the fare review exercise, including the price cap formula the Transport Ministry should adopt.

Transport don Anthony Chin of the National University of Singapore, a former PTC member, suggested that the formula could include a performance index that measures the productivity of the public transport operators.

In last year's fare adjustment exercise, the operators had asked for a 2.8 per cent fare rise, the maximum allowed. They cited cost pressures such as rising fuel and manpower expenses.

But the PTC approved only a 1 per cent increase.

The higher fares came into effect in last October and adult card fares rose by two cents, senior citizen card fares by one cent, and adult cash fares by 10 cents.

Expect shorter wait for buses at peak hours
Service standards to be tightened after $1.1b govt funding

By Goh Chin Lian, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2012

THE feeder bus crunch should ease as the authorities tighten service standards while forking out $1.1 billion to improve the public bus sector.

More feeder services will run at 10-minute intervals during the morning and evening rush periods and operators must maintain this frequency over two hours, up from the current one hour.

In return for buying 550 buses and paying for their net operating costs for 10 years, the Government will require transport operators SBS Transit and SMRT to run 95 per cent of feeder services at this new frequency, up from 90 per cent currently.

The remaining 5 per cent will run within 15-minute intervals, tightened from the current 30 minutes.

And no service - feeder or trunk - will be scheduled more than 20minutes apart at these times, down from 30 minutes now. In fact, 80 per cent of the services must run at most 10 minutes apart; the next 10per cent, at 12-minute intervals.

The operators must also reduce crowding on buses from the present 95 per cent of passenger load that they are permitted to carry, to 85 per cent.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said: 'Overall, this will mean shorter waiting times for commuters during peak hours, a higher likelihood of getting onto the first arriving bus and a more comfortable ride.'

The new requirements are more stringent than the service standards that the Public Transport Council sets, regulates and imposes a penalty for if they are not met. The Land Transport Authority will monitor the operators and not pay them if they fail to meet the new requirements.

Commuters should expect to see significant improvements by the end of 2014.

To achieve these targets, 300 of the 550 new buses will be used to ease crowding and improve frequencies on existing services. The remaining 250 will go to 40 new bus routes, including eight that run parallel to MRT lines to relieve crowding in the rail system during rush hour.

The eight services will benefit people in outlying housing estates like Jurong West, Woodlands and Tampines who are bound for the city.

The Straits Times understands that other new services could improve links to new flats in Sengkang, Punggol and Yishun, and to MRT stations. For example, Telok Blangah Heights residents who dreaded trekking 800m uphill from Telok Blangah MRT station will be able to take a bus instead.

Yesterday's elaboration of the Bus Services Enhancement Programme confirmed an earlier Straits Times report that 70 per cent of the new fleet would be rolled out in three years.

The services that run parallel to MRT lines are scheduled to start after six months. They will use the expressways to cut travelling time.

But transport experts felt that the parallel services might be held up in rush-hour traffic and be unappealing to MRT commuters.

Assistant Professor Paul Barter, who teaches transport policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, also noted that while some places would need new services, adding 40 routes might be an overkill.

He said: 'The bus network would be more appealing, with higher frequencies, if we could actually reduce the total number of routes, and the overall length of the total route network, a little.'

Experts also noted that the higher service standards seemed too focused on peak hours, even if the planners did not want to spread out the $1.1 billion too thinly.

Prof Barter said improving off-peak frequencies and setting more stringent standards for such periods would divert more commuters from rush-hour travel.

Secretary Chua Kim Choo, 60, wants feeder services in her Yishun area to be more frequent. She prefers to take a 10-minute walk home from Yishun MRT station to using a feeder bus because the queue is always long.

As for a parallel bus service, she said she would consider it if it arrived in town punctually, before 9am.

A Premium Bus Service plying the same route to town for $3.80 passes by her house at 7.50am. But she still takes a bus at 5.50am to Yishun MRT station to catch the first train to Raffles Place, to avoid the crowd.

Flexi work to ease rush-hour congestion?

By Royston Sim, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2012

AN INTER-MINISTERIAL work group will be set up to study ways to introduce flexible work arrangements, including staggered start times for workers, to ease congestion on the public transport system.

It will be chaired by Minister of State (Transport) Josephine Teo and Minister of State (Manpower) Tan Chuan-Jin.

Announcing this yesterday, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said: 'More can be done to better distribute the loading on our public transport system during peak travel periods.

'This will help improve the commuting experience and optimise our public transport capacity.'

The work group will engage stakeholders in public and private sectors.

There are already two schemes to encourage more commuters to travel during off-peak periods. A six-month trial by the National University of Singapore and Stanford University, with about 7,000 participants, gives those who signed up a chance to win up to $100 if they travel on trains during morning off-peak periods.

The researchers plan to expand it to 20,000 commuters, to determine if such incentives can entice commuters to switch to off-peak travel.

Rewards of more than $13,000 have been given to almost 2,000 commuters. The study costs about $400,000 and sponsors include the LTA.

The other travel incentive scheme is run by SMRT, which offers a 30-cent discount for commuters who exit from nine stations within the city before 7.45am from Mondays to Saturdays.

Mr Lui said early data suggests the SMRT scheme has 'some positive effect' in changing commuters' travel patterns, but added: 'It is best that we give ourselves another few months to be sure of the trend, and whether we need to refine the discount scheme for greater effectiveness.'

Mr Tham Chenn Munn, director of a mobility consultancy firm, welcomed these moves and also suggested car- sharing.

Emissions-based car rebates from Jan 1
Registration surcharges for cars with high emissions to follow 6 months later
By Goh Chin Lian, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2012

SINGAPORE'S new emissions-based vehicle taxation system will be rolled out in two stages.

Buyers of cars with low carbon dioxide emissions will enjoy tax rebates of up to $20,000 from Jan 1 next year, just after the current rebate scheme based on engine type runs out.

The rebates will be used to offset the Additional Registration Fee (ARF).

Six months later, on July 1, those who buy cars with high C02 emission will face registration surcharges of up to $20,000 levied in cash.

The staggered treatment for new cars, imported used cars and taxis is to give consumers and the motor industry more time to adjust, said Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew yesterday. And in recognition that diesel-driven cars still inherently generate more pollution than petrol-driven ones, diesel-driven cars which fall into the low carbon categories will not be given rebates, while those which are in the high carbon categories will be penalised.

But a majority of car buyers would not be affected either way if they keep to previous buying patterns: 60 per cent of cars registered last year, such as the 1.6-litre Toyota Corolla Altis, fall into a neutral category of 'no rebate and no surcharge'.

Another 20 per cent would be clean enough - emit 160g or less of C02 for every kilometre travelled - to enjoy tax rebates. The remaining 20 per cent would face the surcharge for emitting more than 210g of C02 for every kilometre travelled.

As taxis clock seven times more mileage than cars, rebates and surcharges for this category will be 50 per cent higher than that for normal cars.

Mr Lui said his ministry expects about 30 per cent to 40 per cent of all new cars to qualify for rebates.

Commercial vehicles, buses and motorcycles will remain under the current scheme until the end of 2014, to give the Government time to review how it can better encourage the adoption of green models.

Less than 2 per cent of Singapore's total car and taxi population benefited from the Green Vehicle Rebate scheme in place since 2001, partly because the scheme is limited to engine technology types instead of actual emissions.

The new emissions-based scheme recognises that innovations in fuel efficiency can come in many ways: engine design, transmission system, the use of materials to reduce weight or friction losses, or energy recovery braking systems.

Car buyers can refer to new fuel economy labels at car showrooms to find out a model's carbon emissions and its banding under the new scheme. The information will be made available online with a fuel cost calculator to let buyers compare annual fuel savings across models.

The new scheme will be in place for two years until the end of 2014, and be reviewed after that.

Some motor traders felt that certificate of entitlement premiums could go up further next year and would wipe out any incentives given in rebates.

But BMW Group Asia managing director Neil Fiorentinos was more positive, saying it will be introducing more green models to Singapore, with the BMW ActiveHybrid 5 being the first of the series to be launched in the third quarter of this year.

Putting joy back in bus rides
Govt's $1.1 billion subsidy is not enough; overhaul of bus system is needed

By Christopher Tan, The Straits Times, 10 Mar 2012

AT A hefty $1.1 billion, it is the single biggest direct bus subsidy Singapore has ever granted. Yet it is by no means a huge amount when compared with other public expenditure and, more importantly, it may not be enough to turn back the tide of rising commuter dissatisfaction.

Indeed, a closer look shows that this much-talked-about subsidy will at best lubricate the machine, not turbocharge it.

First, to put the bus subsidy and the debate it has stirred in perspective, consider that Singapore has far bigger projects in the pipeline. Budget 2012 alone has set aside more than $9 billion under various schemes to help low-income groups. Some $5 billion to $6 billion a year will be spent on new rail projects up to 2020. And the upcoming Marina Coastal and North-South expressways cost some $13.5 billion.

It might be instructive to look beyond the fuss to ask whether the injection of $1.1 billion will cut waiting time, ease crowding and raise service levels - the pet peeves of commuters.

As announced, the subsidy will add 550 buses to boost the public bus fleet by 14 per cent over the next five years. It will also pay for the operating costs of these new vehicles for 10 years. The two bus operators - SBS Transit and SMRT Corp - are to add another 250 buses on their own, bringing the total fleet expansion to 20 per cent.

Still, indications are that this may not be enough.

For one thing, the increase in bus numbers is unlikely to offset fully the effects of a ridership increase of the last five years. Nor will it alleviate crowdedness significantly if ridership continues to grow at the current pace. Land Transport Authority (LTA) statistics show that bus ridership since 2007 has risen by 15.5 per cent to 3.385 million trips per day. If this annualised growth rate of 3.09 per cent is to stay for the next five years, there will be 3.942 million bus trips a day by 2016. That is a 13 per cent rise over last year and a sharp 34.4 per cent jump from 2007.

And just as ridership has been rising, commuter satisfaction has been falling. According to an annual poll commissioned by the LTA, it dipped to a three-year low last year.

Obviously, satisfaction is determined by a host of factors besides sheer capacity. For instance, much depends on how a fleet is deployed. On this front, the Land Transport Master Plan's ambition for an efficient hub-and-spoke model will be one big determinant. This model, if executed well, will allow bus commuters quicker journeys via a more rational route system where bus-to-bus or bus-to-train transfers are seamless. And it will even allow operators to run fewer routes.

Since assuming the role of master bus route planner two years ago, the LTA has not made any radical move towards this goal. With the expanded fleet, perhaps it will do more.

Of the new buses, 300 will bolster existing services, while 250 will go towards new services. The latter will include eight expressway services that mirror MRT routes. In the past, the Transport Ministry has pointed out that bus services running parallel to rail lines have not been popular. This is simply because bus services can never be as frequent as trains; and journey times are dependent on prevailing traffic conditions.

So what can be done to bring back the joy in a bus ride?

For starters, increase service frequency. Assistant Professor Paul Barter, who teaches transport policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, defines a good bus service as one that runs at 10-minute frequency or less - throughout the day.

For one example of how to implement successful bus reforms, look at South Korea. When Seoul undertook a major bus reform in mid-2004, a sizeable portion of the budget went into building 44.4km of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors - clear, dedicated road lanes plied by high-frequency bus services.

Seoul also revamped its bus route system to make it more clearly understood by commuters. One key change involved dividing buses into four colour codes: blue for trunk routes; green for feeder; yellow for circular line; and red for inter-city services.

The revamp upset regular commuters initially: They had to re-learn routes and many of their long-haul services were dismantled. But within six months, people had got used to the new, logical system. Routes became shorter and often involved transfers. But on the whole, journeys became faster and more predictable.

According to Professor Kwang Sik Kim, one of the engineers of Seoul's reform, bus ridership grew by over 18 per cent to 4.66 million trips per day within three years of the reform. It continues to hover around that figure but the newfound connectivity also persuaded more motorists to switch to public transport.

The reform came at a cost though. Besides an undisclosed initial expenditure - mostly for the BRT corridors, new buses and a card-based payment system - annual government bus subsidies had more than doubled to US$362 million (S$454 million) by 2010.

Was that money well spent? Academics the world over reviewing the reform programme feel it was well worth the cost for the improvements in commuter service, traffic conditions and air quality.

In the case of Singapore, a good question to ask is what lies beyond the $1.1 billion subsidy. While the Government maintains that the bus aid package is a one-off, it has also said it will refine the bus financing framework - an acknowledgment that there is wide disparity in the ways Singapore finances its rail and bus sectors.

Going forward, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew says the Government will help bus operators further by sharing some of the advertisement revenue from bus-stop ads and by paying for bus depots and bus parks.

These moves will pave the way for a contestable bus industry as seen in several developed cities, where route parcels are tendered out. This lets regulators swiftly hand out rewards if bus operators exceed service standards, or penalise them if they fall short. And this is, surely, a sustainable path to happier commuters and viable operators.

For now though, the subsidy is best viewed as 'seed money' for a venture that will require regular injections of funds. If successful, the investment will pay handsome dividends that go beyond dollars and cents.