MINI-BUSES PLYING IN HDB ESTATES

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong asked the Minister for Transport if his Ministry will consider introducing 8 - 10 seater mini-buses to ply within HDB estates with a standard boarding fare, similar in concept to co-sharing in taxis.

The Minister for Transport (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Sir, as I mentioned in Parliament previously, my Ministry is open to the idea of allowing more competition in feeder services in HDB towns. I have also proposed that this be tried out on a pilot basis.

PTC will be formulating the terms and conditions for such services. In principle, any operator wishing to provide feeder services must be prepared to compete on an equal footing with the existing operators. To ensure that all residents are well served, the operator would need to meet certain service standards, including providing comprehensive coverage and running a full-day service, in the same way as the incumbents are required to do. He will have to provide scheduled services on fixed routes and at an acceptable frequency.

It will be up to the operator to decide what capacity of buses he wishes to use, provided that they comply with environmental, safety and quality standards specified by the PTC and LTA.

Mr Sin Boon Ann (Tampines): Would the Minister give this House the assurance that SBS would not withdraw its services, especially for some of the routes which are not lucrative ones, when we allow these private bus operators to operate in competition with SBS?

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: Sir, the PTC is still looking into the operating framework and once they are ready, MPs will be told accordingly.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong (Non-Constituency Member): Mr Speaker, Sir, must it be on a similar footing as the current operators? Can it not be on a complementary service where you have an additional service for residents who actually want the comfort and efficiency to reach their house faster?

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: Sir, the present bus operators are required to comply with the universal service obligation, ie, they are obliged to provide the service for the whole day, from 6 am to 12 midnight. They are obliged to provide the service to all geographical areas covered by the service agreement. And, therefore, we will not allow other operators to cherry-pick, ie, to serve only the areas that are profitable or to serve only during the peak periods when the passengers are plentiful.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Mr Speaker, Sir, if taxis are allowed to cover the same areas as the transport operators where they can actually send the residents within their estates, why cannot such small Bus-Plus services be provided for residents where they can actually be picked up from the MRT station to go to their house?

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: Sir, as Mr Steve Chia has mentioned, that service is already available through the taxi service.

Mr Ang Mong Seng (Hong Kah): May I ask the Minister, under the pilot project, do they have special contract periods, ie, how many years are given to the private bus companies?

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: I understand that the PTC is looking at a five-year period at the present moment.

Assoc. Prof. Low Seow Chay (Chua Chu Kang): I would like to ask the Minister whether he would set unfavourable conditions for a private operator to operate to make sure that he would not make money.

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: Sir, we want the operators to make money so that they can provide a good service. I understand that PTC will ensure that the operating terms and conditions are similar to that being imposed on the current transport service providers.