So the bus fares have been up since October this year. And now, over a month later, ther Public Transport Council (PTC) has revealed its’ findings for this year.
Public transport use is down and I believe there are two solutions to this: Schedules and decreased waiting times.
I refer to the article “Making public transport the way to go” by T. Rajan from The Straits Times that appeared on 9th November 2006.
In this year’s Public Transport Council survey released last week, 1,661 bus commuters ranked over-crowding as te No. 2 grouse, after long waiting times, and awarded it a score of six out of 10, slightly up from last year’s score of 5.7.
Public transport operators insist the public transport system is under-used even during rush hour.
SMRT says its North-South and East-West MRT lines run below capacity – the trains are rarely more than 80 per cent full at peak times, and less than half full at other times.
Each train can take 1,800 peple, but rarely carries more than 1,400 during peak hours. Typically, they have only 1,200 passengers at peak time, a spokesman said.
It is the same at SBS Transit, which operates 217 bus routes and the 16-station North Easy Line of the MRT.
It is said that on average, buses across the island often run at only 30 per cent of capacity during peak times, and its trains run at half their capacity during peak times and 40 percent at off-peak times.
Okay, a whole lot of statistics. And somehow, I never end up being one of those surveyed.
But let me share with you my travel experience, anyway. At 5/5:30pm, a trip from Holland Road opposite Holland Village to Pierce Reservoir can take as long as one and a half hours on the bus.
It starts with the wait for the 165, that can be as long as 15 minutes. And by the time it arrives at Holland Village, it is pretty much packed. Half way along the route, I have to switch buses. I transfer to either the 980 or 167.
But during this next wait, I will see sometimes as many as two other 165s, two 855s, two 163s drive past. And when the 167 arrives, it is so packed, commuters are already standing on the steps. At this time, the 980 hasn’t even bothered to show up. The bus door opens. The driver yells at everyone to move in. No one is able to budge. The door closes. I’m still waiting.
I give up waiting for the buses I really want. I get on the next 855 (by this time, the third one) that comes along, stop two bus stops away and walk home from there. Even as I walk home, I never catch sight of any other 167 or 980.
And this doesn’t include the other bus services that I’ve not counted.
Part of the problem is that waiting for a bus is a guessing game. You never know when the buses arrive. I don’t know why it’s such a problem for the world class transportation system in Singapore to release a proper schedule.
When I went on a trip to London last year and wanted to find out if I could get from my aunts’ house where I was staying to the airport, I could do my research on the web, from Singapore. I could plan my trip even before I left home. I even knew what time the bus would arrive. And the bus did arrive one minute after schedule. Yes, one minute.
Besides the Internet, there are phone numbers you can call to talk to a real live operator to find out the schedules, the fares, even the connections. Whatever information you needed. How do I know this?
Well, I was kiasu. Didn’t trust if the information on the Internet was up to date, so I called the bus information line. I spoke to someone on the other line, who answered all my questions, even advised me to come earlier (“at least five minutes”) to the bus stop just in case it was running ahead of schedule.
The schedules are also printed at every bus stand. So are the routes. On every bus stand. Furthermore, the bus stands have a sign that indicate which direction the bus is going in.
In Singapore? It’s a guessing game. Bus route information is only available at some bus stops. Even then, you can never be sure if you’re on the right side of the road. I frequently get asked, if this is the right side of the road to take the bus from.
Why are bus schedules so important? Because it helps commuters plan their travel time, so they won’t end up waiting for an unspecified time period in a bus stop that’s too small and cramped.
Look into the bus guide and you can find waiting times over the day vary from 10-11, 11-14, 13-14 and 12-15 minutes. Let’s say that we should arrive at least 5 minutes before the anticipated bus arrival time. This means that the wait could last as long as 20 minutes.
But that time period is useless because we don’t even know if the waiting time is calculated from the hour. If it was, we can anticipate when a bus would arrive – 0910/0911, 0920/0921, 0940/0941, 1000/1001 and so on. But if that’s the case, then we should be able to have a schedule for each and every bus service. But we don’t. So, we can assume that it’s likely that these waiting times are highly inaccurate.
And they are, going by how long I’ve waited at bus stops. Sometimes, the wait is longer than the ride. If it is not raining and the person I’m going to meet is able to tolerate a sweaty me, I find myself walking to my destination instead.
The public transportation operators say that the trains and buses are underutilised. But I’m just wondering how much space is allotted for one person. Is that space for body only? Or does it include space for that person’s bag or bags. Have you seen the size of some sports bags? Plus, since our MRT takes us to the airport now, it’s not inconceivable that a commuter may carry luggage during peak hours to get to the airport. Then, how much space is that person using?
If the statistics are anything to go by then during peak periods a train is carrying 400-600 people less than the train really can during peak periods. The public transportation operators are saying that overcrowding is a perceived state rather than an actual state.
Okay, fine. I accept that. But it still remains to be asked then, why it is that I cannot get onto the bus that I’m waiting for at least 20 minutes during peak hours? How do you reconcile this?
Perhaps the reason why public transport is being underutilised is that it hasn’t improved in such a way that people feel it’s better to take public transport 90% of the time. I suspect this is because the cost-time issue can’t be rationalised. If I can get to a place in half an hour by car, rather than one and a half hours by bus, do my savings from taking the bus make up for the one hour I spend in traffic? And it’s not just a real cost, but also a physical cost – it’s more tiring, more stressful and you expose yourself to more people carrying viruses traveling in a packed airconditioned bus.
But, notice how the service operators do not address at all the main and number one grouse: Waiting times.
As a commuter, it would be ideal to onto a bus or MRT within three to five minutes of arrival. Impossible? I don’t think so.
Certainly I had this experience taking the tube within London. It was only after 11pm that I felt that I had to wait sometime for the next train. Even in Boston, the T runs on a schedule that can be accessed online, so I know just how long I’m going to have to wait. I can plan when I leave home, when I can get onto the train.
Why do people like to own their cars? The minute they step into the car, they’re eating up distance to get to their destination. But for a person dependent on the bus or MRT, they’re waiting and getting nowhere. It’s thoroughly frustrating.The key to public transportation is moving people, fast and efficiently.
If the MRT or bus operators find their systems underutilised and the commuter finds the waiting time too long, we need to attract more users to the system and we need to reduce waiting time.
The MRT and bus operators seem to be waiting for more commuters to come on board before increasing the amount of services.
But the truth of the matter is this: Commuters will not come unless the MRT and bus operators improve the waiting times and address the so-called perceived overcrowding issues.
The MRT and bus operators need to take the first initiative, improve the services so that it no longer makes sense for commuters to take the car to work. Once you do that, the crowds will come.
If MRTs and buses are being underutlised then perhaps these companies should invest in smaller buses or detach carriages from the MRT train. These should be cheaper to run and move faster because they carry a lighter load. With this, frequency can be increased.
Once waiting times are decreased, people will start to come, even if the train or bus is slightly crowded. The perceived state of overcrowding will go down.
The key to it is to remember that commuters want to eat distance. They want to move to their destination as fast as possible. Get them there fast without waiting, and they will come.
This is what I’ve witness in London’s underground. Yes, the stations did get crowded during peak hours, but you wouldn’t have to suffer long. You’d soon be on a train eating distance. Getting there fast. They just kept moving people. And people on the move don’t feel the passing of time as badly as people who are waiting.
The article in the Straits Times states that
… public transport accounts for just under half of the daily 8.3 million trips made by commuters here.
Furthermore,
… use of public transport in the morning has come down, from 67 percent in 1996 to 63 percent now.
In 10 years there are 4 percent less people taking public transport to go to work. Today, most people are skipping the bus and MRT to get to work. We can assume they are taking cars, taxis or bicycles.
But it isn’t cheap to drive and park in the city. Yet, the cost/inconvenience ratio is justifiable in the commuters’ calculations.
In the same article, Transport Minister, Raymond Lim is said to blame
… the increased car population for the fall in the use of public transport. once a car is bought, it is used intensively.
I think this shows a lack of understanding of the situation. If time is money, it becomes very clear why one might want to drive and pay rather than wait and wait.
The article uses Switzerland as a comparison. Zurich limits and discourages building of new car parks, has increased the price of parking that can cost up to $50 a day.
The Singapore government may want to increase road use charges, increase tarrifs on car park operators, even force a reduction in land use available for car parks.
Sure, you can do all that to force a reverse demand in public transport. But if public transport is unable to support this influx of passengers and adequately move people in a speedy matter – something that they can’t do even now in its underutilised state, all you will have is a lot of angry people who spend more time on the road than necessary, instead of being productive in the office or at home.
Or you will have a group of people who pay through the nose for fast and private transportation. If this is a chargeable business expense, business costs increase, companies will seriously consider their position in Singapore.
Urban planners in Switzerland have seen no need to curb the car population in order to encourage the use of public transport.
Rather, they have worked to ensure that trains get commuters to their destinations faster than any car can. (italics mine)
Fix the public transportation system and people will use it. Just as they do in Switzerland where 78% of the population owns a car.