Comprehensive review on bus service levels: Lui Tuck Yew

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew says the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will do a comprehensive review of the current bus service levels.

In his Facebook note on Wednesday, he shared that the review will focus on what commuters need — improve bus capacity and congestion levels, frequency and reliability.

The goal is clear — reduce waiting time, increase the predictability of bus journey times, improve our chances of getting onboard and provide better information to commuters, wrote Minister Lui.

However, he added that amidst announcements made to improve Singapore's public transport system, his primary concern is still the commuters' daily experience.

As part of the review, LTA and the Public Transport Council (PTC) will work with the operators to raise the current Quality of Service (QoS) standards further. Once the review is completed, the public transport operators will need to follow through to provide better service delivery to meet the higher standards that commuters are looking for.

The minister added that the PTC will also need to audit and regulate more tightly to ensure these standards are met.

"I envisage the PTOs having significantly more buses (and bus captains) added to the existing fleet of about 4,000 buses. We will also need to study carefully how the Government can help the operators grow their bus fleet and captains in a sustainable manner," he wrote.

Minister Lui revealed that the comprehensive review will take some time and have set LTA a target to have this completed by the fourth quarter of this year, together with a 'robust plan of action'.

However, he admitted that it will also take some 12-18 months to get the new buses and, in the meantime, recruit and train more bus captains.

In order to bring about some quick improvements on the ground, he has asked LTA to work with the operators to allow some of the older buses which are nearing the end of their planned lifespan to be extended on a temporary basis.

This will be carried out if the operators and LTA ensure that the buses are road-worthy and safety is not compromised.

"I estimate that this measure will add about 5-6 per cent of the fleet capacity until the arrival of the new buses. It is a more immediate measure which I'm confident will allow us to improve the current service levels in areas where they are most needed," he wrote.

The minister also encouraged commuters to continue providing feedback to Grassroots Organisations and the LTA so that they can carry out verifications and prioritise the areas of improvement in the review.