Public Transport Services to Cope with Increasing Ridership Volume

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Minister for Transport whether the Ministry intends to introduce measures to ensure that public transport services which serve the housing estates/heartlands do not become overcrowded because of usage by foreign workers whose dormitories are located within close proximity to the housing estate/heartlands.

Mr Lui Tuck Yew: Most foreign workers staying in dormitories are already provided with dedicated transport to and from their workplaces by their employers. A small percentage of them take public transport.

LTA actively monitors the public transport services near these dormitories to ensure that there is no excessive overcrowding during the peak hours. When such bus services are overcrowded, LTA will work with the bus operators to add bus trips and increase overall bus capacity. Some of these bus trips can be injected downstream of dormitories so that residents taking bus services after the dormitories will be able to board the buses. LTA will also work with existing dormitory operators and employers to encourage them to provide dedicated transport for the purpose of ferrying foreign workers to and from their workplaces.