Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Transport system will have "enough buffer" for possible 6.9m people


Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew has given the assurance that Singapore's transport infrastructure will have sufficient buffer to accommodate a possible 6.9 million population by 2030.

He told Parliament that commuters need not wait till then to find travelling more convenient.

Pointing to efforts to expand the rail and bus network, Mr Lui said commuters will begin to see improvements in the next five years.

The vision is to create a very convenient and high-quality public transport system by 2030, said the minister.

By then, the rail network will be doubled to 360 kilometres, with nine MRT lines to help spread the load from the current four.

But given issues like overcrowded trains and train disruptions in recent years,
Mr Lui said he understands why such a vision can be hard for Singaporeans to visualise.

"Seen through the prism of the current situation, I can appreciate how unthinkable it may seem that we can accommodate a population by 2030 that is 30% higher than today, even though we have firm plans to double the rail network over this same period. But I do believe we will begin to see a gradual but noticeable and perceptible improvement over the next five years," he said.

Mr Lui said that by 2017, the Downtown Line, for example, will add significant new capacity to the east-west corridor. The re-signalling project and additional new trains to be rolled out on existing lines will also help.

"During the busiest one hour in the morning, our assessment is that we will have the capacity to carry 70 percent more passengers into the CBD in five years' time compared to what we have today. And I do not expect such a sharp increase in ridership. Hence what this implies is that for most commuters taking the train into the city, the journey will be less crowded by then," he said.

Incentive schemes to encourage commuters to spread their travel outside the peak hours may also be improved, possibly later this year.

Mr Lui said: "Commuters who are able and willing to travel off-peak on the SMRT network today can save up to 50 cents off their rail fare if they exit at the designated stations in the CBD before 7:45am. The scheme has seen some initial success, with about 3% to 4% of commuters move their travel out of the peak period. We will continue to see how it can be made even more effective, and will consider further improvements, possibly later this year."

As for buses, there are plans to speed up the five-year Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP) launched last September.

Another 190 buses will be added this year.

This would mean that half of the 550 buses promised under the programme will be on the roads by the end of this year.

Private bus operators will be roped in to help run new routes.

And more City Direct-type bus services, which run along expressways, will be introduced.

To improve waiting times, there are plans to possibly introduce an incentive and penalty system based on commuters' expected waiting times.

Such a system is already introduced in cities like London and Seoul.

The Land Transport Authority will begin trying out the scheme on some services in the second half of this year.

In addition, nearly S$50 million will be spent over the next two years on measures like adding 30 kilometres of bus lanes.

The Mandatory Give-Way scheme will be extended to another 150 bus stops and the number of bus hubs will increase from 10 to 40.


SOURCE

During the week of the by-election, they reveal all the good news on public transport, planning all the way ahead till 2030. Then a week later came the White Paper, which gave all citizens a shock with the 6.9million figure.

Suddenly all the good news have been wiped out clean by this figure. But then, I will still like to give the LTA a chance to prove themselves. Yes, they're definitely behind time with the infrastructures, but they're doing something about it now.

It awaits to be seen how much faster can they catch up with the rise in population. The verdict will come in 2016.


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