While commuters are, by and large, satisfied with SingaporeÂ’s public transport, many have a familiar complaint: The long wait for a bus to arrive.
Out of every 10 public transport users, four are not satisfied with the waiting times of buses. This is in spite of the fact that nearly eight out of 10 say they are satisfied with public transport in general.
According to a public transport customer satisfaction survey conducted last year by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), 84 per cent of 1,000 respondents were satisfied with bus and rail services — but this pertained more to Mass Rapid Transit than bus services.
For bus commuters, waiting time and reliability of bus services were important and had the most room for improvement among the 10 bus service attributes listed in the survey. Nearly 60 per cent of commuters were satisfied with the waiting times, while two-thirds of them found bus services reliable. Most of the other attributes, such as comfort and customer service, were rated as satisfactory by more than 70 per cent of commuters.
NSman Jesse Chan was not surprised by the findings. “Waiting time is acceptable for most bus services in Singapore but some seriously need to work on their timings,” he said.
The 19-year-old recounted how he had missed a few appointments because of long waiting times — as long as 30 minutes on one occasion.
Bus operator SBS Transit said commuter dissatisfaction with waiting times is to be expected because, unlike rail services, buses do not have a dedicated right-of-way.
However, its executive director, Mr Ong Boon Leong, said SBS Transit will “work with the relevant authorities to address the varying traffic conditions affecting the overall travel time, waiting time and reliability of bus services, such as giving buses greater priority on the road”.
For example, its Intelligent Route Information System launched this year, minimises anxiety caused by unknown waiting time and puts commuters in better control of their journey time by providing realtime bus arrival information on mobile phones and the Internet.
In addition to such efforts by operators, Transport Minister Raymond Lim told Parliament last month that the LTA will revive a trial to provide bus commuters with real-time arrival data.
In collaboration with SBS Transit and SMRT, a real-time bus arrival information system will be rolled out at about 30 bus stops in areas such as Orchard, Ang Mo Kio and Sembawang by July.
Passengers can look forward to infopanels that show the date, time, bus service number, predicted arrival times of the next two buses, and any traffic disruptions.
The LTA is also funding TransitLinkÂ’s development of an electronic bus journey planner, in which commuters can gauge the best option to get to a destination.
Quality manager Kelvin Koh, 27, welcomed the arrival of more real-time travel information but hoped the authorities will still look into speeding up waiting times.
“It just manages expectations and allows passengers to plan routes or take alternatives but it still does not solve the problem of inconsistent bus timings. It’s similar to real-time traffic information on the expressway,” he said.
The LTA has said it will continue to implement measures to give greater priority to buses on the roads, such as the recent expansion of the full-day bus lane scheme in five areas this month.
It is also looking at bus stops having no bus bays so as to reduce travelling and waiting time. A trial will start in Jalan Eunos in 2009.
The survey, the first on mass public transport services commissioned by the LTA, replaces the Public Transport CouncilÂ’s bus passenger satisfaction survey.
Overall, the top attributes commuters were most satisfied with were: The accessibility and location of bus stops and MRT stations; safety and security; and comfort.