7 Good Reasons Why Public Transport Ridership is dropping
November 5th, 2009 | 
Author: I refer to Tuesday’s (27 October) Straits Times article “More cars, so public transport trips down”. I find it puzzling that the local public transport community cannot comprehend the reasons behind this seemingly ridiculous trend in our “dense but well-orchestrated” public transport system. Let me summarise the available reasons as to why this phenomenon is occurring. It must be noted that this list is certainly not exhaustive.
(1) Erratic bus frequency
It used to be that more often than not, two buses of the same service will arrive at the bus stop at the same time. Common excuses: unpredictable traffic, bus breakdowns, high passenger volume. This problem has improved immensely. Recently, the average number of certain buses arriving at the same time has gone up to three. I find it incomprehensible that with our superb ability to monitor traffic (read: Expressway Monitoring and Advisory System, Intelligent Transport Systems Centre) and our numerous cameras, public transport companies cannot adjust their bus schedules to suit road and people conditions.
(2) Unreliable contactless card technology
There have been many complaints of people keeping their ez-link cards in their wallets and bags when they tap their cards, leading to huge queues that, obviously, defeat the purpose of the contactless system. These complaints are largely directed towards the “inconsiderate” people who can’t bother to take out their ez-link cards. However, has anyone not questioned the reliability of a system with a reader-card sensing distance of 10cm? Even off-the-shelf card readers for home and office gates can do better than our $134.6 million smart card technology.
(3) Early last buses / trains
For a city with a Uniquely vibrant nightlife, I find it hard to believe that our last trains and buses stop operating at midnight. Fair enough, there are premium NightRider services available in these unearthly hours, but their exorbitant fares seem to suggest only ghosts roam the streets of Singapore at night. Even supermarkets and cafes have kept up with the times with 24 hour outlets. Should there not be 24 hour trunk services as well?
(4) Poor decomposing stations
I find it intriguing that many of the Circle Line stations are already built, and yet trains are not rolling. True enough, safety trials need to be conducted, but why is it that these trials are taking place after the station entrances have been completed and the escalators are ready to run? It is as if one has bought a Ferrari FXX without having passed his driving test. I wonder if the closures are more an issue of the trials or of low expected ridership.
(5) Fluctuating travelling time
It is understandable if travelling time varies due to road conditions like jams caused by accidents. However, if the time taken to travel from Point A to Point B depends on reasons like whether the driver is in a good mood to drive his bus more quickly or if he is behind or ahead of the stipulated bus schedule, I doubt anyone would want to risk his punctuality on public transport – especially if you are going on your first date or job interview. Strange that this idea was used for a public transport advertisement years back.
(6) Low bus / train frequency
Have you not been troubled by the fact that you actually have enough time to watch a drama serial episode (read: A Starry Night) before the next approaching train arrives?
(7) No eating / drinking
The regimentation in public transport is so strict that they should consider boarding and alighting drills for passengers. Perhaps sitting should also be banned so that there is no hoo-ha about seats in public transport.
The push to get more people onto buses and trains has hit a speed bump, but think about it: why speed in the first place if you can’t even drive properly?
Ronald Chan
Posted in 34 Responses to “7 Good Reasons Why Public Transport Ridership is dropping”
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我觉得公共交通搭客率下降，并不是国人交通习惯改变，或变得富有驾车了，其中一个原因我相信是因为经济衰退，大量客工离开的缘故。
Hub and spoke model is already in place.. sort of.. make it more efficient.. those super long distance cutting from tampines to boon lay, woodlands to marina square, and more.. are seriously increasing the total time.. the longer the journey, the more undesirable events (jam, etc) in between.. making 2 buses arriving together..
Not much jobs available for Singaporeans which resulted relocation to another countries for a better jobs offer, like myself, do contributes to a decline in ridership of Public Transport.
I would like to add the most valid and important reason to number (8) as why many people do not want to use public transport is because:-
Raymond Lim himself is not willing to set a good example by giving up his car and turn to public transport too.
As such, what made him think that other people will obey him?
At the end of the day, public transport is inferior to private transport. However, current transportation technology is insufficient to deal with these problems.
There are many good reasons to reduce the size of the car and turn control of it over to computers.
A*STAR is more interested in biotech.
LTA is more interested in collecting taxes.
nyoro~n
RICH MEN’S SONS ARE ZIPPING THEIR CARS MORE AND MORE THESE DAYS!And,they are still schooling!
but poor man and his wife and young children,one in arms and another hand-holding prefer to take taxi for safety and convenience!And also no need to carry umbrella when raining!!
The coe and erp need not exist if not for greed and easy “taxpayers” pay-till-you-drop-dead policies!!!
Why not ask the INCOME REVENUE DEPT for a list of bona fide
taxpayers,for instance,and award a “free” coe for those families that pay a certain level of income tax such that the number of free coe entitlement optimised with the level of private cars you want on the roads?!
Those rich men’s sons who do not pay taxes but still insist on driving need to bid for a coe starting at a more punitive
minimum level so that in effect it balance socail costs and social benefits!And you can then better control traffic levels b=mcuh better!
those million dollar technology to give estimated bus arrival times is waste of tax-payer’s money. They are inaccurate most times, the waiting times jump erratically.
better to buy more buses. with whole day bus lanes at motorists’ road space, what more excuses can SBS and SMRT come up with?
Notice how badly maintained the ticket machines are in the MRTs? – out of service.
Refunds of unwanted Ez-link cards? -they need 21 days! but immediate deduction if it benefits them.
Waiting times of 10 minutes for trains on sunday? you commuters can suffer for all they care as long as they think they are not making enough profits.
So frightened of complaints – they dare not set up on-time real-time feedback for commuters. like Another Tiger airway least favourite airline kind of no service.
Remember they say as long as the MRT line makes profits they should not mothball under-profit individual MRT stations?
Now U-turn – to support SBS white elephanting Sengkang LRT stations and Woodleigh – every station must profit before they will open. To heck and hell with commuter comfort or convenience.
I used to drive in S’pore for more than 10 years before I go over to Hong Kong to work. I have been working in Hong Kong for the past two years and have been taking public transport since then. There is not a day that I feel like owning a car. Maybe SBS and SMRT should come over a learn the system here…..
@sickof the bones
you made me wonder why we sinagporeans call PAP-PAY AND PAY.
actually you’re right,we,sinagporeans pay and pay and the PAP
should more appropriately chnage to Profit and Profits!!!!
You can’t actually blame the bus companies for erratic frequency.It is mathematics at work.
Read this below
Why three buses come at once, and how to avoid it
Anyone who has waited for a bus knows the routine: you wait far longer than you should, then three come along at once. The problem, called “platooning”, plagues buses, trains and even elevators.
Public transport vehicles – underground trains, for example – set off from the start of their routes equally spaced. The problem starts when one is briefly delayed, making more time for passengers to accumulate at stations further down the track. Since passenger boarding is the main factor delaying trains, these extra people slow the train even more.
Meanwhile, the gap between the delayed train and the one behind is shortened. That means fewer passengers for the train behind to pick up, making it pass through stations faster until it catches the train ahead. Eventually, all the trains on a route can end up crawling after the slowest, lead train.
If vehicles can overtake, as buses or elevators can, it just means the overtaking vehicle will pick up the people who have accumulated at the next stop, and so will slow down again.
On the Mexico City metro at rush hour, for example, platooning can treble trip times. “Trains stop for long times at and between stations, even when they are not full, because full trains get delayed in front of them
To fix the problem, transport managers tend to focus on reactive measures such as adding extra trains at peak times, tinkering with schedules and shifting passengers offtrains at the front of a jam by announcing it will skip a few stations.
But there are ways to stop platoons forming in the first place
The pair built an “agent based” computer model, in which trains exhibit individual rather than average behaviour. They found adding more trains just led to longer platoons; and when trains could pass each other, they just shuffled their order within the platoon – one slowcoach always led.
So they attacked the heart of the problem by preventing the spacing between the virtual trains from changing. They tried making trains spend a minimum time in a station, to prevent them from speeding up. They also made trains leave after a certain maximum time to prevent slowing. Passengers were allowed to disembark, but the trains would leave the station even if boarding was not completed. When the trains had to meet both conditions, and the maximum times were extended at peak periods, platoons never formed.
Commuter cooperation
Gershenson and Pineda now want to test the system with buses on their university campus and with real trains on the Mexico City underground. Adjusting maximum waiting times to match passenger densities should be possible, says Gershenson, by using systems that can monitor passenger flow electronically, such as gate sensors.
However they warn that the measures will need to be carefully explained to passengers, who are otherwise likely to be upset when trains start leaving them on the platform.
So can the commuter help to prevent the problem? The pair’s advice chimes with what many experienced travellers already practise – if a crowded train arrives, wait for the next one. It not only makes commuting less stressful, but smoothes the system for everyone. “Passenger behaviour is the main cause” of platoons, says Gershenson.
bus bunching can’t really be helped. if you have taken a bus or driven in a jam before.. you would probably know why this is almost impossible to prevent. you have to make the bus driver wait at a bus stop after the jam to spread out the buses… but that would never happen.
notice how ERP rates at some gantries went up the day after the newspapers reported that public transport ridership is ‘low’? this proves my suspicions behind the report of the public transport survey — it is an excuse to increase gantry rates which can be justified by the rationale to push ppl to use public transport.
I recommend the entire strength of the transport ministry, including ministers, take 3 months of trying out the ‘efficient and under-utilised’ public transport system themselves DURING PEAK HOURS daily, before they come up with more of such ficitious reports and ’surveys’.
Where is the truth and justification behind the results of the survey? Why increase ERP rates again?
Six possibilities
1. Priming the public for another round of increases in the cost of car ownership
2. Priming the public for another round of fare increases – why? – less people taking public transport => falling companies’ profits => increase operational costs => reduced executives pay => Raymond Lim unable to justify his next round of ministerial pay increase => someone have to pay => ad infinitum (all route to Temasek Holdings)
3. Singapore citizens unemployed => no work to go to => no money to go out => no need to travel
4. ‘FTs/FWs’ unemployed => no work to go to => no money to go out => no need to travel OR return to home country
5. Propaganda to give the impression that Singaporeans are doing well, next elections?
6. Bloody hell, just another excuse to increase costs of public transport
The problem for 2-3 buses coming together during peak hours is the simple design flaw of the bus itself. We have 1 door for abroad and 1 door for alight. If the crowd awaiting to get on and off the bus is huge, it will take 15-30 seconds delay each time a bus stops at a bus-stop. The delay accumulates and finally the later bus caught up with the bus ahead.
Have a 3rd door for boarding and alighting. That will certainly speed up the delays of each bus, thus improving its services. But NO!!! Public transport companies want to have 1 door of entrance near to the driver so that he can “watch” over who pays the bus fare or not.
If the bus services is good, people will gladly pay, but now people are not paying the bus fares due to the fact that the bus companies provides lousy services so that it is not worth for us to tap the EZ-link cards on the reader.
This article does a good work of describing some common problems with our public transport. But it does not explain its own question of why the public transport’s share of total trips is dropping.
To really explain this phenomenon, we need to look at the keyword “SHARE”.
“Share” means percentage. The percentage of people taking public transport may have dropped slightly, but there are now actually MORE people taking public transport, in terms of absolute numbers. This apparent paradox occurs because the total population of Singapore is now much MORE than before. The percentage of the total may have dropped, but it is still an increase as the total has increased.
The question we should ask is, why is our MSM focusing on the SHARE, when they should be focusing on the ACTUAL ridership? After all, a slight percentage drop in share has little real significance. Is the MSM trying to create the false impression that Singaporeans are getting more affluent and thus driving cars more?
Why should we work on increasing the SHARE, when the ACTUAL ridership is already so bloody high? Anyone who is taking public transport at peak hours now should know that our trains and buses are already very packed; the system is almost bursting at the seams. We can barely accommodate having even more people taking public transport.
Instead of asking how we can increase public transport SHARE, we should be looking at the core problem, and asking how we can alleviate the congestion in our public transport.
The solution will be to either stem the tide of incoming immigrants (impossible in the eyes of PAP), or to substantially improve our public transport network. But our transport operators seem more interested in catching people eating and drinking than in solving this problem.
Our public transport must be near perfect if PTC’s miserly $500-$1000 symbolic fine on the two hopeless oligopolies is to be believed. The private buses got fined millions for price fixing.
They are even sneaky enough to remove fare stages from new bus stop signs so that you will never know if you get overcharged!
Spore is dead after midnite as far as public tranport companies are concerned.
THe trains deliberately delay closing train doors during non-peak hours to save on train trips – unlike Bangkok or HK where they close as soon as there are no more passengers. Here you wait and wait and waste time to feed these oligopolies’ profits!
Which city as 7.30 to 8 pm whole day bus lanes and their buses still bunch and do not come on time?
It is the deliberate policy to maximise profits, use the least number of buses and hiring cheap China imports to drive these buses that is the cause of our third class public tranport.
Have you noticed how buzzy HK or Taipei subways are – so many shops and eateries? Why the ghost stations here except for some pethetic budget cloths shop or SPH buzz shops? Corporate greed greed greed.
Raymond Lim ’s big bang to overhauling the decrepit public transport woes is appearing to be more and more like senile erectile dysfunction and in need of the blue pill to satisfy the commuters who pay good money for shitty services.
don’t be surprised your station get mothballed and closed as an white elephant if SBS or SMRT suddenly do their magical figures and decide it is no longer profitable to operate your station! They do it in Spore because we are so impotent.
they have to revise their bus routes to take passengers to where they need to get to and when they need it. stop promoting transfers which is inconvenient, slow and inefficient.
public transport is also overcrowded and incredibly uncomfortable for the price we pay.
just got back home from Dhoby Ghaut to Boon Keng – the NEL. between the train carriages the hinges squeaks like a hundred thousand rats squealling. But of course they tell it is alright since you don’t hear the din continuously for 8 hours at this decibels.
You can’t even talk cos the trains are super noisy and best of all the mobile coverage for decades has many many big blind spots where there is zilch coverage (the telcos know it but can’t be bothered – as usual cost and profits- same like SBS/SMRT).
whenever they do anything e.g. build platforms to prevent suicides or reduce by one cent bus fares or increase train frequencies during times like F1 – you unfailingly will hear them trumpet how many millions all these changes are going to cost these fat oligopolies and not because commuters need these changes.
Then blame each other – LTA and the oligopolies for not overhauling structural/signalling outmoded equipment when public clamour for more freq trains like two minutes apart. Then claim Jurong East interchange cannot allow faster turnaround time. Even Moscow can do it but not Spore. And they boast and boast! Excuses and even lamer excuses.
worse they rent it to nuisance people from banks, credit card companies, taxi recruitment and insurance people puttting up chairs and tables in stations to waylay people going home or to work.
as if life is not stressful enough!! hardsell and of course pay exorbitant rents to the fat oligopolies to have this privilege to harrass commuters till late at night – yes 10 pm or later!!
Sometimes you have to wait, and wait, and wait some more before a bus arrives. Or 2-3 buses of the SAME number arriving at the same time.
Some bus drivers also brake like fucking retards, making the standing passengers on board lose their balance/dropping stuff.
In MRT stations, the constant ‘If you see any suspicious items…’ nag is getting tiresome. Nice try scaremongering the commuters. And that’s the deal with trains stopping suddenly between stations or frequently breaking down (please alight and take the provided bus service)?
until the whole PTC, MOT and LTA rank and file from minister down start taking public transport for 6 months daily and mothball all their cars – they should not make public transport policies at all.
It is just like a person extolling the wonderful taste of an apple and extolling its virtues without having tasted it personally. Actually the apple is rotten to the core and full of worms.
I do not agree with the last point for eating or drinking bans in public transports. Imagine a uncle eat a packet of noodles on the bus? I had seen it during my bus ride in Tuas. Some 1 just eat the packet of noodles, ignoring other people. The smell also too strong and will leave a after smell on bus.
What they can do is drinking of bottled water is ok, but not those take away cups containing soft drinks or hot drinks.
You Wrote…
“recommend the entire strength of the transport ministry, including ministers, take 3 months of trying out the ‘efficient and under-utilised’ public transport system themselves DURING PEAK HOURS daily, before they come up with more of such ficitious reports and ’surveys’.”
Have you noted this ex-ABN=AMRO Dutch Bank guy Raymond Lim’s arrogance before???… Like MBT going down in 3 entourage mini type school-buses down that stretch of jammed Serangoon Road some years back… to TEST if it was really hard on motorists then… Instead of driving his own limousine!!!…
And will this Lim guys even take public transport for a day???… Many of us may drop dead if MIW Ministers ARE proactive pragmatic type… more the Qualitative ‘Business’-Minded types of lky requirement genre… BUT NOT of the true Entrepreneur type!!!…
BUT then… DO WE NEED Entrepreneurial Ministers for PUBLIC TRANSPORT???… It IS no wonder it been Pay-And-Pay AS you Pay-ASS-Pay!!!
“1) Erratic bus frequency”
Last time there can be 45 minutes wait for a bus service in bukit timah. Then 4 to 5 buses will arrive all at the same time. Stupid SMRT and LTA planning. Pay so much for top government talent yet get top government trash.
“6) Low bus / train frequency”
6 minutes for some trains during peak hours 6-7pm.
8-10 minutes for many trains during non-peak hours 1-2pm.
Outrageous.
Actually I feel that of all the ridiculous claims about our country, one of the most truest claim is that we have a world class public transport.
I’ve been to other countries in Europe, Asia, Australia and I feel the only country that beats Singapore in public transport is Switzerland.
If you complain about waiting too long for the bus, well, go look around and see that waiting time for even developed countries can be 30 mins or more.
If you ever go to London, you will know that certain lines of their tube (mrt) do not operate on weekend. These are not minor lines but actually quite major lines. Imagine if SMRT announces that NEL will not operate weekends?!
The public buses and trains here are about 99% clean and new looking and very safe for commuters. You don’t get stabbing incidents on public transport.
Just my opinion.
(1) if there is a solution to bunching, why don’t the authorities implement it? all these theories about “mathematics” are not all talk and no action
(2) why should eating and drinking be banned on buses and trains if they are not banned on planes? issue is the convenience of throwing away the rubbish.
(3) comparison with other countries is incorrect reasoning. whether i reach my next stop on time is not affected by whether london trains are operating today or whether paris buses take an hour to come. who cares? instead, we should think: how to make singapore’s transport system better? express trains? underground roads for buses? longer carriages for trains? making sure at least two companies should serve the same region so that there is competition? there are many solutions but no one willing to fork out the money without taxing the public
I think it is because for many people getting to MRT means first taking a low frequency bus. Going by Bus->MRT->Bus can be time consuming.Also, for long distances, Buses are all but useless because of roundabout routes and plenty of stops in between.
You forgot #8:
Unbearable body odor that makes the eyes water and the stomach turn.
We must have alot of Transport related reader here. I find the posting here of much better quality then other articles.
I disagree with point 7.
I agree that Raymond Lim should go, and at least in this instance cy offer some positive solution to the problem rather then some ppl who rant senselessly
The flow of traffic on MRTs would indicate maximum Rush Between Bedok , Jurong East & AMK to Rafles place/ City hall in Morning and reverse in evening. Therefore all trains need not Run on full route ( Pasir Ris – Boon lay or Marina to Jurong East —) and instead take short route in these Areas and increase frequency. This will need redeveloping Some MRTs into mini terminals, however would be worth to serve the commuters.
reader on Fri, 6th Nov 2009 7:09 pm,
Please do not compare Singapore to countries where majority drive their own car or every household has at least one car. One track thinking has brought Singapore to it’s knees. I live abroad, trams/trains don’t run on Sundays, if they do only one every hour. Reason being noone to transport. Most people are out on weekends with their families and friends in their own cars. They only use public transport to go to work on week days as there’s not enough available parking in the crowded cities. Surprise surprise, still no COE or ERP here. Also, PUBLIC TRANSPORT, which is a service rendered to the PUBLIC, is always running at a loss as the busses/trams/trains run throughout no peak time often carrying just one or two passengers (remember everyone can afford a car). They are heavily subsidised by the gov for the service they provide. So having visited a country doesn’t qualify you to comment. You need to have lived there.
Cheers
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