Free MRT rides scheme sees mild take-up on first day

[UPDATE on Monday, 9.45pm: Adding information from LTA on Day 1 results]

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a media release on Monday evening that early results of the year-long free rides scheme is "encouraging" with data indicating a decrease of about 9 per cent of commuters exiting the designated city stations during the peak period between 8.00am and 9.00am. This is in comparison to the average daily figures for the first three weeks of June 2013.

LTA said, "Travel patterns typically take time to stabilise, as employers and employees make adjustments in workplace and personal arrangements, and there may be daily fluctuations as well. The LTA will therefore continue to monitor the change in travel patterns over the next few months before drawing any conclusions as to the effectiveness of the trial."

Yahoo! Singapore reporters on the ground encountered few commuters who changed their routines.

Meant to help reduce the peak-hour crowding that has partly fueled Singaporeans’ dissatisfaction with the government, the scheme lets commuters ride for free if they arrive at 16 designated MRT stations in the city before 7:45 am on weekdays. Those arriving between 7:45 and 8am get a 50-cent rebate.

Yahoo! Singapore was at Tanjong Pagar station Monday morning to check the take-up. Most of the commuters arriving before the cut-off said they usually went to work at that time, and many were not even aware that the trial for the free rides had started that day but were pleasantly surprised when they tapped out of the gantry to find out their ride was free.

According to staff of transport operator SMRT, the station was only “a bit” more crowded than what was usual for the morning pre-peak period.

Out of about 20 commuters who exited the Tanjong Pagar MRT station that Yahoo! Singapore talked to, three said they made an effort to travel to work earlier to enjoy the free ride.

Alex Sia, a 26-year-old information technology engineer, said that he appreciated the free train ride and not having to squeeze with the rush-hour crowd. He added that he planned to leave work a little earlier from now on.

Fiona Kwok, a 29-year-old consultant who traveled from Yio Chu Kang to Raffles Place on the North South Line, said that since she only needed to wake up 30 minutes earlier and had flexible working hours, she thought it would be nice to try traveling earlier to see whether it was less crowded in the early morning.

She was “surprised to board the first train that came instead of waiting for two to three trains”, and she was spurred to go to travel earlier so that she could save “thirty to forty bucks a month”.

Majority of the commuters at the station interviewed, however, felt that it did not matter to them whether there was a free ride as they just needed to get to work on time.

Serene Lye, 46, who works in the administrative department of a clinic, said she tried but didn’t make it to the station for the 7:45am cut-off timing, but that she was happy to get the 50-cent rebate.

Train passengers during rush hour also said they did not notice significant difference in the size of the crowds.

Alison Lim, a management associate, who traveled from Yio Chu Kang to Braddell on the North South Line told Yahoo! Singapore that the crowding situation during peak hours felt “worse”, adding that the “free and discounted rides did not seem to ease human crowd."

Some commuters though had better luck.

Farhana Shaheed posted a comment on Yahoo! Singapore’s Facebook page, saying there was a smaller crowd on the train on her journey from 8:18 to 9.04am. She was also pleasantly surprised to get a seat during her “47 mins trip from Sengkang to Bras Basah (Waterloo Street).”

Additional reporting by Jeanette Tan

Related stories:
Free early morning MRT rides into city from June 24
How SMRT will be hit by government's free train rides
Minister Lui 'dismayed' by SBS Transit's treatment of NEL disruption