FUEL PROMOTIONS BY RETAILERS

FUEL PROMOTIONS BY RETAILERS

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(Impact of traffic congestsions): **

18.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Minister for Transport in view of the traffic jams caused by Shell's fuel promotion on 24th October 2009 (a) what was the impact of the jams on the smooth flow of the public transport system; (b) how will the jams affect the Public Transport Council's assessment of the performance of the public transport system; and (c) who will bear the cost of penalties if they are imposed by the Public Transport Council.

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19.

Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim asked the Minister for Transport in view of the fuel promotions by Shell on 9th August 2009 and 24th October 2009 which caused traffic congestion (a) whether there are any studies done on the impact of such promotional events on traffic flow; (b) whether the Ministry was consulted before the launch of the promotional event on 24th October 2009; and (c) whether the previous impact assessment was taken into consideration.

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20.

Mr Seah Kian Peng asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether measures were in place to ensure smooth traffic flows during the fuel promotion run by a major petrol retailing chain on 24th October 2009; (b) whether there were any contingency plans in place to avert the traffic jams that occurred at various parts of the island besides the deployment of auxiliary police officers; and (c) whether the Ministry considered the danger posed to bus commuters when bus lanes were taken up by cars queueing to get into the petrol stations.

Mr Raymond Lim Siang Keat: Shell held their fuel promotion on Saturday 24th October over eight hours, from 10am to 6pm. Such commercial promotion events on private premises do not need specific approvals from the Government. However, Shell informed both the Police and LTA of its intention to hold this particular promotion beforehand. The Police and LTA advised Shell to put in place measures to manage the anticipated traffic congestion, such as engaging Auxiliary Police Officers to control traffic. Shell was to ensure that the vehicle queue is kept within one lane and not obstruct accesses to buildings and commuter facilities, which includes bus stops. Several stations where the queues would pose serious safety risks were excluded from the promotion. Shell took in these requests, and also increased the number of pump attendants and cashiers to speed up the service on the day of the promotion.

However, the promotion proved to be more popular than Shell had anticipated. The LTA and Police observed and received reports of varying degrees of congestion on the roads leading into Shell stations. While most of these roads generally remained passable for traffic, there were a number of instances where the traffic congestion was not acceptable. LTA took steps to manage the congestion by adjusting traffic light timings and informing motorists of the congested roads through electronic message signs and radio broadcast announcements. LTA also instructed Shell to deploy additional resources to manage the traffic condition on the ground, while the Traffic Police instructed Shell to end the promotion early at one of the stations.

This unfortunate incident has heightened the awareness of commercial entities on the need to be more socially responsible when planning their commercial events in future. Better planning of events, as well as the provision of more resources for crowd and traffic control can be expected of organisers of future promotional events. The LTA and Police will also work with the organisers of such events to see how best we can minimise a recurrence of such traffic incidents.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked how would the Public Transport Council (PTC) assess the bus services that were affected by the promotion. The PTC is mindful that there will be circumstances beyond the operators’ control, such as traffic congestion due to road accidents or major events, that will affect their performance. In its assessment, the PTC will carefully consider the reasons why the bus operator was unable to comply with the Quality of Service standards set before deciding on the need to impose a penalty. I am sure that the PTC will be fair to the bus operators.