Free early morning train rides to city area extended to 2015

By Charissa Yong, The Straits Times, 10 May 2014

ALTHOUGH early birds can catch a free train ride into the city, most commuters are still opting to fight the morning crush. Fixed working hours remain their main stumbling block, say two in three peak-hour travellers.

So the Land Transport Authority (LTA), which is extending its free-travel trial for a year, is hoping to get more companies to adopt flexible work arrangements.

Under the scheme, commuters who exit at 18 city area MRT stations such as Bugis or Tanjong Pagar before 7.45am get a free ride.

About 7 per cent of commuters now travel outside the 8am to 9am peak period, Senior Minister of State for Transport and Finance Josephine Teo said yesterday. But this is lower than the 10 per cent to 20 per cent that Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew had hoped for when he announced the scheme in April last year.

An LTA poll of 4,000 commuters last September found that two-thirds of peak-hour commuters said they travelled during the rush hour as they did not have flexible work arrangements. So the LTA will focus on getting more bosses to implement this, said Mrs Teo, speaking to reporters after a 7.30am visit to Bugis MRT station to observe commuter traffic.

Some firms have already got on board. Mr Max Loh, managing partner for Asean and Singapore at accounting firm EY, said: "It's a choice we give our employees. People can come to work earlier and go home earlier."

Mrs Teo also said that while the free train rides before the peak hour rush will be continued till June 23 next year, it is too early to tell if it will be made permanent.

Lacklustre public transport has become a common grouse among many Singaporeans. According to an LTA poll last year, the percentage of people satisfied with the MRT system slipped from 92.1 per cent to 88.9 per cent - its lowest since the first poll in 2006.

The free ride scheme is one option the Government is testing to ease the crowds. The LTA is also running a series of activities to make travelling before peak hours more attractive, such as giving free breakfast vouchers.

Post by Land Transport Authority – We Keep Your World Moving.

Urban transport academic Park Byung Joon of UniSIM noted that the scheme was meant as a temporary measure while more MRT networks are built.

"If the scheme remains as it is, I don't think we're going to see any further reduction in peak-period commuters," he said. "But even if nothing changes, at least the people who now travel earlier will not go back to their old travel patterns. That helps."

'Face time' barrier to free rides
By Adrian Lim, My Paper, 12 May 2014

FIRST in, but very rarely, first out of the office.

Many workers have reasoned that if they have to slog at the office till late in the evening anyway, then why bother showing up early?

This stops them from taking up flexi-work options to enjoy free or cheaper train rides to avoid the morning rush hour.

Many said that, even as the Government extends an experiment to get commuters to shift their travel patterns to the pre-peak period, there still remains a culture of office "face time" which frowns on leaving the workplace early.

Long days, often the norm in certain industries, do not help either.

Since the pilot scheme was introduced in June, only about 7 per cent of commuters have opted to travel between 7am and 8am, instead of the peak hour between 8am and 9am. This fell short of the target of 10 to 20 per cent that the Land Transport Authority was hoping for.

Under the scheme, commuters who exit any of the 18 designated MRT stations in the city area before 7.45am ride for free. Between 7.45am and 8am, they stand to enjoy a discount of up to 50 cents.

Professionals whom My Paper spoke to said that while their firms offered a flexible-work option, taking it up was another issue.

Said one public relations executive, 26, who works near Orchard Road: "Walking out at 5pm when everyone else is still working... People may think I'm not much of a team player. It's about being visible."

Mark Hall, vice-president and country manager of Kelly Services, said many employees are concerned about how senior management may perceive their time out of the office.

"A competitive working environment can also mean that people are very conscious of protecting their jobs and often take on extra work to try and demonstrate their value," Mr Hall added.

In the accounting and legal services, where clocking 10- to 12-hour days is the norm, many executives said they did not see the point of coming to work early.

"Getting the extra sleep is important. Plus, many firms have a policy of allowing employees to claim for taxi rides if they stay past a certain time," noted a 24-year-old auditor.

Said one lawyer, 26: "Late nights are the norm... Punctuality is an indicator used in the assessment of our end-year bonus, but I'm not sure a lot of weightage is placed on this."

For most, the financial savings from a free or discounted train ride were not a huge enough incentive for them to change their routine.

Nanyang Technological University adjunct associate professor Gopinath Menon said: "People don't just look at money. Their time is important too. If I come to work early, no point hanging around for an hour doing nothing.

"The scheme must be accompanied by the cooperation of companies to have flexi-work arrangements."

Currently, more than 40 public agencies located near the city allow their staff to report for work as early as 7am, while 12 companies are participating in a Travel Smart pilot programme.

At Ernst and Young, where an estimated 15 per cent of staff have taken up the early pre-peak travel programme, a free breakfast awaits some of the early birds.

Max Loh, Asean and Singapore managing partner, Ernst and Young, acknowledged the concerns some staff may have of pulling in longer hours if they come in early.

"Yes, I think it's a valid concern. Because at the end of the day we are a professional services organisation, and people could work from 7am and still work till 8pm, 9pm at night, but that really depends on project requirements.

"We are not saying that if you turn up at 7am you can go home at 3pm every day. But on the days you can do it, it gives you that flexibility and then people should take advantage of that," said Mr Loh.