BUS SERVICES IN JURONG TOWN

3.32 p.m.

Mr Ho Kah Leong (Jurong): ( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, as from the 1st of June, 1978, the Singapore Bus Service (1978) Ltd, introduced a bus interchange scheme in Jurong Town. In the initial stages of its implementation, it caused great confusion and inconvenience to the commuters in Jurong Town resulting in a lot of complaints from all concerned. As a Member of Parliament for that area, I have to raise this matter in this House, or I would be failing in my duty.

Sir, according to newspaper reports before the implementation of this interchange scheme, the SBS had engaged experts to study and to make a research into statistics over a period of years before coming up with the so-called bus rationalisation scheme. I am not knowledgeable in this matter and, therefore, I cannot claim whether or not this is a reasonable scheme. But I can say that in this matter of a major readjustment and changes in a public communication system, I as the MP for that area, and even the Citizens' Consultative Committee and the people of Jurong were not informed of the proposed scheme in advance. As a representative of the people I do not seem to have a say in a proposal that affects the livelihood of my constituents. How contemptuous of public opinion and how arbitrary the SBS has been.

Sir, in the first few days of the implementation of this new rationalisation scheme, the press reported on the confusion at the bus interchange together with the many complaints made by the residents. I myself visited the place on different occasions. I observed that during non-peak hours, the interchange appeared to be able to cope with the situation. Of course, there is still room for improvement. But no one is able to realise how bad the confusion and the crowd is during peak hours at the interchange unless he is there to experience it himself. Under the circumstances in the rush for a bus, the old, the weak, the women and children, and those who were courteous found it very difficult to squeeze their way into the bus. If the SBS wanted the passengers to queue up, they had not put up any railings to guide them. One could only see SBS staff clad in white yelling at the crowd through loud hailers and gesticulating or driving the commuters away like cattle. At times when commuters squeezed into the wrong queue through ignorance, they were discourteously pulled away and even scolded by the staff. Commuters are mainly citizens in the lower income groups. Their only means of communication is the bus. So they had to stomach this scolding and rough handling by the staff, much to their discomfiture. Along certain isolated routes leading to some factories, commuters had to wait for a very long time because SBS officials would send a bus to such routes only when there were enough commuters waiting. The original schedules had not been adhered to. I am just quoting these instances to show how the scheme has brought about inconvenience to the commuters right from the very start.

Sir, I have already described the situation inside the interchange. The situation outside the interchange was no better because the exit and entry points are situated close to each other. Both points are sited on one same road and they are also very close to Corporation Circus, thus restricting the smooth flow of vehicular traffic. During peak hours, the congestion along Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim was even worse. Some of the staff of the bus company therefore acted as "traffic police", regulating the traffic at random, without actually knowing what they were doing. I wonder why the experts when planning the scheme had not thought of these defects that would arise. Perhaps their calculations had been wrong.

Sir, even up to today, I am receiving complaints from the residents. They complain that to reach the factory or to go downtown, they have to spend double the amount of time waiting for buses and also the inconvenience of changing buses, not to talk about spending more money on bus fares. Factory operators have also complained that since the implementation of the scheme on 1st June, many of their workers could not arrive for work on time, thus affecting their production schedule in the long run. I have also heard that some companies are considering buying their own buses to transport their workers in order to solve this problem for good. Furthermore, executives and other road-users have also complained that during peak hours traffic congestion is even worse, thus much of their valuable time is wasted. Shopkeepers and hawkers in Jurong Town have also complained that because of the inconvenience of transport in Jurong Town, there are fewer and fewer customers. So their business has declined very badly. All in all, the introduction of the new bus interchange has brought about complaints by the people from all quarters.

Sir, the rationalisation of Jurong Town bus services was originally intended to improve the transport system in Jurong Town, thereby enabling the residents to reach their destinations faster. However, we have seen only the weaknesses of the scheme so far, even before we can think of any benefits to the commuters. During peak hours, if the residents should take a feeder bus to the interchange, they have to board a bus heading for Boon Lay Gardens, which takes a big loop back to Jurong Town before reaching the interchange. Commuters who fail to board a bus after a long wait simply walk to the interchange. Previously, one needed to take only one bus to town or the factory. Now one has to spend more bus fares and more time and even to walk a distance to reach one's destination. May I ask the Minister whether this so-called rationalisation of the Jurong Town bus services has brought any improved service to the people, or has it caused more inconvenience to them?

Sir, the bus is a means of transport for the lower income groups. It affects their livelihood to a great extent. The Government has sent a team of senior officials to the bus company. They should perform their supervisory task earnestly and not to try to relate their performance merely to the criterion of whether or not the company is making money. What is more important is that bus services should be improved in accordance with the wishes of the people. As the SBS has declared, it would provide an enhanced level of service at the lowest possible cost. I am not an expert but a layman on bus and transportation. However, I would like to reflect the views of my constituents and to make certain observations which are based on what I have actually seen on various occasions.

First, yesterday, from what I have read in an English newspaper, in order to relieve the pressure at the interchange, the SBS intends to introduce a new Service 249A during the peak hours to link up the residential areas in Jurong with the industrial areas. This shows that the bus interchange scheme may not be suitable to residents of Jurong Town and Boon Lay housing estate. However, the residents in Jurong area welcome this new bus service, and they believe that such link service should be increased to service the residents between their homes and the huge industrial areas. With this direct bus communication, transport will be more convenient and faster.

Secondly, before the full implementation of this scheme, the frequency of Services 240, 242, 244, 246 should be increased during peak hours and the buses should observe fixed schedules in order to shorten the waiting time of commuters.

Thirdly, the extraneous Service 209 has been a heavily used service. It should not have been abolished. The frequency of Services 197 and 198 should be increased so as to provide residents travelling out of or into Jurong Town with adequate bus services.

Fourthly, the traffic conditions at Corporation Circus should immediately be improved so as to alleviate the serious congestion there.

Fifthly, at exchange sections in the interchange railings should be erected to enable commuters to queue up for their buses. SBS employees should politely render assistance and guidance to those commuters who do not know what buses to take.

Sixthly, at route-terminals in the interchange buses should punctually leave according to schedule so that commuters at some routes need not have to wait for an unduly long time.

Seventhly, bus services such as Nos. 183 and 197 which come from areas outside Jurong Town should stop at the interchange to allow commuters wishing to change buses to alight and then proceed to Jurong Town and Boon Lay housing estates and finally going back to the interchange. This will minimise the inconvenience to commuters in Jurong Town and Boon Lay Gardens of having to change buses.

Mr Speaker, Sir, since there is such confusion at the present time when the schools are closed for the holidays, you can imagine the confusion and chaos at the interchange if conditions are not improved by the 26th June when the schools reopen - students and workers will be scrambling for buses. Sir, I hope the Minister will see to it that senior Government officials posted to the SBS make a real effort to improve the rationalisation scheme before the next semester begins, so that it will meet the demand of the broad masses. Sir, whether such a major scheme will be successful or not, I reserve my views for the time being. However, this bus interchange scheme that has been implemented for the last two weeks most surely needs urgent and positive improvement. 3.45 p.m.

Mr Ngeow Pack Hua (Boon Lay): ( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, as the Member for Boon Lay, a neighbouring constituency of Jurong, I am always faced with similar problems. Therefore, I must support the views expressed by the Member for Jurong. Though the new rationalisation scheme in Jurong Town has good intentions, it appears that the task has not been given close scrutiny and careful planning. The SBS has not actually given careful consideration to preparatory work or to the actual needs of the commuters. The original plan was to facilitate communication and to shorten travelling time. But on implementation, in fact, the commuters are subjected to more inconvenience, having to wait longer and to change buses and to pay more. According to what I understand, before the feeder service was put into effect, commuters in Jurong and Boon Lay needed only 10 minutes to reach their destination. But now they have to take one hour to reach their destination.

Sir, I feel that the Department concerned and the SBS not only have not consulted the residents in these particular constituencies but they also have not given due considera- tion to the views of the Members of Parliament of these two constituencies. I feel that we have been neglected. So I hope the Government and the Minister concerned would look into this matter immediately and take remedial measures to improve the bus service in question and the situation there. This calls for immediate action, so that workers will not be inconvenienced and will not be late for work and there will be no more complaints from the people concerned, particularly from the Minister for Finance who has said that the workers' productivity has dropped.

Sir, the SBS has become a public company now. I believe many commuters have acquired shares in this company through their CPF funds. Since it is a public company, it should provide better services, and this is what the Minister has promised. However, as soon as the shares were subscribed, the first move it has taken was to implement a feeder service in Jurong Town. From the results that we can see the SBS has failed. According to my understanding this feeder service is an experiment, and the Government intends to introduce it in the other housing estates. In that case, I feel the Minister should take immediate remedial action about the matter and I hope he can now give us a satisfactory explanation of the whole situation.

The Acting Minister for Culture and Senior Minister of State for Communications (Mr Ong Teng Cheong): Sir, the rationalisation scheme in Jurong is the first of its kind to be implemented in the Republic and also in the region; I am not too sure if it is the first in the world. Being the first, some teething problems are to be expected. However, I understand the concern expressed by the Members for Jurong and Boon Lay. I wish to assure them that the main objective of the rationalisation scheme is to improve the level of bus service to commuters.

Prior to the rationalisation scheme, Jurong had eight feeder services and 14 external services, with a total of 285 buses operating. With the introduction of the rationalisation scheme, there are now 14 feeder services and 12 external services, with a total of 322 buses operating.

On the morning of 1st June this year, i.e. the first day of operation of the Jurong interchange, there was confusion among commuters. Buses were overloaded and schedules were not adhered to. Many workers had to wait up to about one hour for feeder services and were, therefore, late for work. The causes of these problems were, firstly, that many people were unaware of the new feeder services they had to take to their destination. This was so, despite the many announcements and press conferences made by SBS. This had therefore disrupted the smooth flow of passengers transferring to new feeder services at the interchange.

Secondly, the commuter demand at the interchange and its surging effect during the peak hours was greater than expected. However, steps were immediately taken then to overcome the confusion and to ease congestion. Over the last two weeks there have been improvements at the Jurong interchange. External services are now found to be adequate to meet passenger demand throughout the day, and many commuters have found the new scheme to be more efficient.

However, we recognise that feeder services are still unable to cope with the large number of commuters travelling within Jurong. Inconveniences have been caused to commuters living in Taman Jurong and Boon Lay Garden Housing Estates. On the other hand, the introduction of more buses to carry commuters living in Taman Jurong and Boon Lay Garden to the Jurong interchange during the peak period, for example, as the Member for Jurong suggested, Services 240, 242 and 244, may not necessarily solve the problem. It may create greater congestion at the interchange. The solution would be to provide direct internal services between residential estates and industrial estates so that those living in Jurong and working in another part of Jurong need not have to go to the interchange to catch another feeder service to their place of work. This problem has been carefully looked into, and the Members for Jurong and Boon Lay no doubt would have noted that the SBS has announced in the press yesterday that a few such internal services linking residential estates to the industrial estates will soon be introduced. SBS has been told to see to it that these additional services are introduced before the new school term starts on 26th June this year.

With the additional internal services, Jurong residents will be able to commute to their places of work without having to pass through the interchange. This will also ease the demand for feeder buses at the interchange. It is hoped that this would solve the problems faced by commuters presently. We will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments to improve the service whenever necessary.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That Parliament do now adjourn.

Adjourned accordingly at Seven Minutes to Four o'clock p.m. to a date to be fixed.