Originally posted by Manager433:
These are the few ways to attract Singaporeans to work in the western part of our little island:
- Develop the area around Tuas. Built light rail system ( LRT ). Travelling speed should be a lot improvement when compare to buses/car since LRT no such thing as traffic light waiting time/congestion.
- Incentives. Another words: more pay.
Care to add on your views?
Mr Yeo Cheow Tong said on Thursday on public transport in Tuas:
"Sir, Mr Ong Kian Min also talked about Tuas. Sir, first let me assure Mr Ong that Tuas toady is adequately served by public transport. There are now 4 public bus services serving Tuas, with a total fleet of 41 buses, and they link Tuas industrial estate to Boon Lay MRT Station and Boon Lay Bus Interchange which are located together. SBST has planned their bus schedules to match the ridership which is concentrated during the morning and evening peaks, with very low demand during the off-peak period. PTC has periodically checked, and found that the bus services to Tuas are quite adequate.
By 2009, public transport to Tuas will further improve, when we will complete the Boon Lay Extension (BLE). This will extend the East-West MRT line westward into the Jurong estate, into the Joo Koon Circle area. There will be a new integrated MRT cum bus interchange there. I think workers will find it a lot more convenient and accessible when the facilities are ready.
Sir, Mr Ong Kian Min suggested that we carve Tuas Industrial Estate out of the USO, Universal Service Obligations, and allow other players to come in to provide mini-bus services. Sir, we have actually considered this before. Our conclusion is that this is not likely to lead to better service levels at today's fares. This is because the bus ridership pattern is very peakish in Tuas, like in most other industrial estates, and the travel time also coincides with travel times elsewhere, so i.e. whoever operates there cannot be using free capacity freed up because the buses were lying idle, and therefore be able to offer a low cost service.
Sir, without the USO, the bus operators will only ply during the peak hours, with very little coverage during the off-peak hours, little or in fact no coverage. Also, the bus operators operating mini-buses may not enjoy the same economies of scale as SBST and SMRT do. So in short, the workers in Tuas may be worse off than today, as there is no guarantee that fares will be the same or lower than the current level, and the service may not be available throughout the day.
Sir, I must admit that employers in Tuas do face a bigger transport challenge, and therefore the workers there face a bigger transport challenge than many other places in Jurong. For example, the travel time for bus commuters can be very long, in view of the sheer physical size of Tuas. Let me give an example. The 4 bus services that ply Tuas Industrial Estate take between 50 minutes to more than one hour just to go from Boon Lay Bus Interchange to the end point of their service in Tuas. That is that one-way trip can take an hour or more.
This makes it less attractive for workers to work there, and employers there have had to compensate them in some ways for this inconvenience. Some employers pay a higher salary. Others offer a dedicated company bus shuttle for their employees because such shuttle services are faster, more direct and flexible, and can be customised to cater to their special work arrangements, like their shift hours.
At the end of the day, the employment market in Singapore is an open and competitive one. Workers who are structurally unemployed will need to be re-trained for the jobs that are available, whether these are in Tuas or elsewhere in Singapore. And employers will need a competitive remuneration package if they wish to attract the right worker, in keeping with the demands of the job, the workplace, and the skills required. This definitely applies to the employers in Tuas too."
