CENTRAL BUS ROUTE PLAN

CENTRAL BUS ROUTE PLAN:

(Update): 4.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Minister for Transport (a) if he will provide an update on the plans to implement a central bus route planning; and (b) what are the plans for public consultation.

Mrs Lim Hwee Hua (for the Minister for Transport): Mr Speaker, Sir, LTA has been making good progress in preparation for its role as the bus network planner. LTA had earlier consulted transport experts, academics, operators and Government planning agencies to get input on the principles and strategies to guide the development of the network. It has since developed a draft Bus Routes Master Plan (BRMP), which will serve as the blueprint for basic bus services, with the aim of benefiting as many commuters as possible while maintaining the overall financial viability of the bus system.

LTA has started to hold a series of consultations with the Advisors and grassroots leaders of all the Group Representation and Single-Member Constituencies, to share its assessment and discuss potential improvements to the bus services in each of these constituencies. The aim is to solicit feedback and suggestions on how best to improve the bus network. LTA targets to complete this series of consultations by the first quarter of 2010. Thereafter, LTA will seek the Public Transport Council's approval for the finalised bus routes, before gradually rolling out the changes.

Mr Speaker, Sir, surveys conducted by SMU indicate that the majority of Singaporeans are satisfied with bus services today. This shows that our basic bus service network today is already quite good and fairly comprehensive. Hence when LTA rolls out the changes in the master plan, it will focus on modifying and improving the existing bus network. This is a better approach than undertaking a major overhaul of the system, which may excessively disrupt commuters’ routines or leave them worse off.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak: Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Minister for the answer. Two years ago, when the Ministry released the Land Transport Review, we were overjoyed and very happy that finally they were going to put the commuter at the centre of this whole planning. This is going to be commuter-centric. I would like to ask the Minister in what way has the consultation been commuter-centric in the first place. Currently, is it still in the planning stage in the offices of the LTA or will they be going on the ground now to interview residents directly to find out how are the commuters affected by this review? It was stated two years ago that the review will start in end of 2009. We are a few months from that. Currently, on the ground, nobody has felt any changes yet in terms of the review. And last of all, on the premium bus services, how is it featured in this overall review? There is a fear that it will be using premium bus services to plug the gaps, as a result there will be no change at all in the basic bus services.

Mrs Lim Hwee Hua: Sir, I would like to reassure the Member that the LTMP's focus and objective on the commuter remains there. The commuter remains at the centre of all our planning. As regards his observation that perhaps many members of the public do not seem to have been involved, there has been a lot of informal consultation going on. As Advisors would know, every CCC has been equipped with an LTA representative at the meetings, and bus routes and traffic conditions have all been part and parcel of that ongoing dialogue. Grassroots leaders themselves have very good ground connections and they are able to reflect the needs of the residents and this consultation has been going on as well. But for this central bus route planning, the LTA has adopted a structured approach in order to ensure that there is a formal process to it. This is not to say that the discussions and consultations are limited to this framework. Commuters at large are still welcome to contribute their inputs through the usual hotlines to either the LTA or PTC, and all inputs will be put together. There will also be consultations beyond the GRCs and the SMCs because a lot of the bus route planning tends to revolve around townships as well.

As for the Member's second question about the role of the premium bus services, in this central bus route planning, it does not cover the premium or niche services. Nonetheless, based on the consultations that we have had so far, there tends to be discussions on such services. I would like to assure the Member that they will not be used to "plug the gaps", so to speak. We will be looking at how to refine the existing basic and feeder bus services. The premium and niche services will remain market-driven. They will go through the process as per now, which is application to the PTC. But we can view them as very much a complementary component of the entire bus route planning.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad (Hong Kah): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to know whether there have been any changes in the planning consideration now that planning has been taken over by the LTA and what are some of these changes in planning consideration. The fear I have is that we may end up having similar replies as we used to get from the bus operators in terms of cost, stages, and so forth.

Mrs Lim Hwee Hua: Sir, I would like to thank the Member for raising the question. If I may just articulate the objectives of the entire exercise. There are basically four objectives that we are looking at. The first is to improve the journey quality – the quality of the travel experience. The second is to achieve better integration across the public transport modes between bus and rail as well as between services on the same mode. The third is to strengthen our current hub-and-spoke model where we will optimise it – even transfers can be made a lot easier. Finally, it is to ensure that after doing all these and meeting these objectives, that we will have a system that will still be financially viable.

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