Provision in Government Contract for Emergency Bus Services in Event of Rail Disruptions

Mr Zaqy Mohamad asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether there are provisions in the Government Contracting Model (GCM) for buses in 2016 to be called up for emergency bus services in the event of rail disruptions; (b) whether the bill for these emergency bus services will be passed on to the rail operators; and (c) between the various bus operators under the GCM model, whether LTA has a plan on which operators will be tapped on to operate which emergency routes in a rail disruption.

Mr Lui Tuck Yew: In the event of a rail disruption, the rail operator is responsible and pays for free bus boarding near an affected station, and this will continue after the transition to bus contracting. These include all public bus services at designated bus stops and bus bridging services to ferry commuters between affected train stations. The rail operator is required to pre-arrange these services with bus operators. There are provisions in our bus contracts to support these arrangements.