Committee of Supply – Head W (Ministry of Transport)

Future of Transportation in Singapore

Mr Sitoh Yih Pin (Potong Pasir): Mr Chairman, I beg to move,

That the total sum to be allocated for Head W of the Estimates be reduced by $100.

Sir, before I begin my speech as the mover of the amendment for the Committee of Supply (COS) for the Ministry of Transport (MOT), I wish to extend, on behalf of myself and all hon Members of this House, our most heartfelt and deepest condolences to the families of Mr Nasrulhudin Najumudin and Mr Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari. Our hearts, sympathies and thoughts go out to their respective families in their grief during this difficult period.

Sir, the tragic loss of lives in the SMRT accident provides us with a stark reminder that the safety and well-being of both the employees and consumers of our public transport system are paramount. This is especially so, as MOT embarks on a comprehensive and ambitious plan to achieve the vision of providing Singaporeans with a modern, state-of-the-art, efficient and effective public transport system.

As we set out to achieve this, we should be mindful that necessary safety precautions and protocols are considered and implemented in tandem. We must ensure that all safety protocols are followed and strictly adhered to. If there is a lapse in any way or form, immediate corrective measures must be taken with utmost priority. Only then, can we have a 21st century public transport system we can truly be proud of. As the accident remains the subject of investigations, I shall not comment on it any further.

Sir, I move on. As I alluded to earlier, MOT has a comprehensive and ambitious plan to transform Singapore's transportation sector. Minister Heng Swee Keat had said in his Budget Statement that our estimated expenditure for MOT in 2016, at $10.1 billion, is approximately five times more than what it was 10 years ago.

A quick look at key upcoming projects reveals the reason why. Changi Airport Terminal 4 and Jewel Changi Airport are on track to commence operations soon. Terminal 5 and our third runway are off the mark. Pasir Panjang Terminal Phases 3 and 4 will grow our seaport capacity by more than 40%, come end-2017. There will be an MRT extension or new line open almost every year for the next five years, adding 30 more stations to our MRT network.

The Bus Service Enhancement Programme will continue. The Walk Cycle Ride SG initiative and the proposed North-South Corridor for commuters, cyclists and pedestrians will change the transportation lifestyle mindset of Singaporeans.

Amid this backdrop, however, is also the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) and Intelligent Transportation Society Singapore's (ITSS) Smart Mobility 2030, which maps out Singapore's Intelligent Transport System Strategic Plan. The plan is to leverage technological advances to improve connectivity and efficiency in our transport system. Sir, there is no doubt that these are must-haves and the changes are necessary.

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Locally, Singapore is restricted by its physical size. The demographic and size of our population are changing. The transportation industry is changing. There is a new emphasis on green technology which includes vehicles with less carbon emissions, hybrid and electric cars, even driverless cars.

I spoke earlier of the dichotomy of being efficient and effective. I explain. Being efficient is about doing things right. Being effective, however, is about doing the right things. Singapore is renowned for being efficient. We plan, execute and implement projects and plans exceedingly well. But let us pause and consider if we do it in an effective way.

I raise three points for discussion. First, are Singaporeans adequately prepared to accept this changing transportation model? The ownership of cars is a norm in many countries. In Singapore, this is clearly unsustainable. Our population has grown significantly over the years and we expect it to grow more. Similarly, the number of vehicles has also grown. But the land we live on cannot. We have tried with land reclamation but we are clearly limited by what we can do.

The transport infrastructure model that is before us is clearly an efficient solution to this problem. It makes the best use of what we have, the best use of what modern technology can give us and plan it in the best way we know how. But to make this transport infrastructure model also the most effective solution, the population that lives in this model must also participate actively and make the best use of it.

Second, we are an ageing population. This is an issue close to my heart. In Potong Pasir, a significant proportion of my residents are elderly. The elderly are physically more constrained than the young. As such, we must be sensitive and aware of their travel needs.

I explain with an example. There is a new housing development now being built in Potong Pasir. The land it is on is directly next to Potong Pasir MRT station. During construction, the developer blocked off the most direct walking route that my residents take to the MRT station. The developer was required to build sheltered walkways along the perimeter of the land to facilitate our residents' needs. I remained deeply concerned. Yes, sheltered walkways are good but it is now a more circuitous route. A five-minute walk has become 15 minutes. For a young adult or even a not-so-young adult like me, we can manage. But for an elderly person, this extra 10 minutes of walking can be a torturous and excruciating exercise. I raise the example to show that a truly efficient and effective transportation model must be convenient and accessible to all Singaporeans and not just the able-bodied majority.

I therefore read with great pleasure LTA's recent plans to introduce priority queues for the elderly, disabled and others at MRT stations and bus interchanges. This is exactly the type of programme we need to make our transportation model a successful one.

Third and lastly, reliability. Reliability of our public transport system, especially of our MRT system, has been an issue raised on many occasions. Improvements have clearly been done. But with the rapid expansion of the MRT lines or of a new line or extension every year for the next five years, is this a case of biting off more than we can chew? Are we equipped to ensure reliability across the entire MRT system while expanding its capacity at the same time?

Sir, a majority of Singaporeans take one form of public transport or another in their daily lives. We hope that more will do so. MOT has an impressive plan and is building a transportation model to facilitate and allow more Singaporeans to do so. However, as we efficiently go about planning and implementing this model, we should keep in mind other factors that could affect the ultimate effectiveness of the model.

I invite Minister to share with us any of the Ministry's current and/or future plans to address these issues.

Question proposed.

Upgrading of Existing MRT Stations

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon): Chairman, the expansion of the MRT network in recent years has brought about many spanking and beautifully designed stations. These stations are spacious and brightly lit with futuristic designs and decorated with artwork. Some of the larger stations house a generous array of shops and eateries. By contrast, older MRT stations like Khatib are comparatively shabby and look worn out after years of heavy usage by an increasing number of commuters. I am pleased to note that there are plans to upgrade 17 stations by 2018 and to find Khatib among the list.

I would like to ask the Minister what my residents can look forward to after the upgrading. Will the overcrowding at the platform be resolved? Will it shield my residents from the hot morning sun? Will it cover my residents' bicycles from rain and shine? Will it be more elderly-friendly with the provision of more seats, brighter and bigger signages? Will there be beautiful artwork displays perhaps to cool them down when they cannot squeeze into the overcrowded train and have to wait for the next train? Will it be more friendly for handicapped residents, especially the visually handicapped? Perhaps numbering of bays with protruded numbers or letters will help tremendously. I am sure my favourite compassionate and Mr-Fix-It Minister will help us.

MRT Breakdowns

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Non-Constituency Member): Two years ago at the COS debates, my colleague, Mr Png Eng Huat, spoke about the reliability of our train services. Two years on, the regularity of train disruptions, the reliability of our MRT system remains a disconcerting issue. In the past 13 months, we have seen at least 50 incidents of MRT disruptions reported and almost half of such delays exceeded 30 minutes. There were 14 major MRT disruptions last year, up from 10. The most recent major one was a four-hour disruption on the East-West Line on 19 March. Just last Friday, there was another train fault on the Circle Line.

In December 2015, LTA started a new method of measuring service delay. Last week, LTA reported that the average distance clocked between overall breakdowns had increased. This was cited as a statistic for rail reliability.

The Straits Times article of 7 April stated that "it is hard for anyone to reconcile an improvement in reliability when major breakdowns have spiked". Indeed, whatever statistics that LTA may use, commuters who use the MRT everyday can attest for themselves the frequency of disruptions.

Singaporeans should not have to get used to this regularity of disruptions. We expect our system to have far fewer disruptions. We should also be greatly concerned with the loss of productivity to all our workers and our economy arising from the man-hours lost to all delays over the last few years.

I would like to ask the Minister to let Singaporeans know what steps are being taken to affirmatively abate this unacceptable regularity of disruptions.

The Chairman: Ms Low Yen Ling; not here. Mr Yee Chia Hsing.

Safety of Staff in Public Transport

Mr Yee Chia Hsing (Chua Chu Kang): Chairman, on 22 March this year, two MRT maintenance staff were hit by a train near Pasir Ris MRT station and suffered fatal injuries. Several Members in this House, including Minister Khaw Boon Wan, Minister Yaacob Ibrahim and Minister Masagos Zulkifli have visited the families to extend their condolences.

Many questions popped up in my mind when I heard about the incident. I thought, "How can this happen? How can a train hit the two staff who were walking in the second and third position in a single file on a designated walkway? Are there sufficient safety procedures? If not, why not? If yes, why were they not followed? Do we need 15 people on the tracks? Is it right to put trainees on the track during train operating hours? Is safety compromised because SMRT is pushing for shorter downtime?"

Over the next few days after the tragic accident, further details emerged and more questions came to mind, "Why was the initial account of the incident different? How can we expect our maintenance crew to do a good job if they think their lives might be in danger?"

Chairman, for a system that runs on tracks, it is not acceptable to have any serious injury, especially fatal ones. Such incidents not only undermine public confidence in our train operators, but I am sure it would have deeply affected staff morale at SMRT and also affect its attractiveness as an employer for people looking for jobs.

I understand that SMRT has completed its internal investigations into this incident and the report is being reviewed by an independent panel. Hopefully, this will answer the many questions which I have mentioned.

MOT should take a comprehensive review of how our train operators carry out their maintenance work to ensure that such unfortunate incidents should never again happen. I also hope MOT will look into whether financial or other penalties should be imposed on SMRT and its management.

Safety Protocols for MRT Operations

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: Mr Chairman, on 22 March this year, two SMRT staff were killed when an MRT train collided into them while they were on the tracks assisting with repair work. Our MRT system is not new. I am surprised that such a simple accident can be allowed to happen here. Not all reputable MRT operators in the world allow workers to effect repairs on maintenance on tracks while trains are in operation.

On the morning of 30 March, I filed my present COS cut on Safety Protocols for MRT Operations. Later that day, LTA and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) issued a press release requiring SMRT to carry out the following measures if maintenance work are carried out during train service hours. This is to take effect from 31 March: (a) train running on sections of the track where personnel are working on must operate on manual, not automatic mode; (b) trains to cease operating on the relevant section of the track before repair personnel is allowed on it; (c) robust authentication between personnel on track and the operations control centre to verify track isolation; (d) measures for isolation to be in place until staff have left the work area and track site; and finally, (e) watchman to be deployed to alert personnel of incoming trains.

I am surprised by this press release. I had expected these measures to be in place and to be the so-called standard operating procedures (SOPs). If they were, the press release would not have been necessary.

I would like to ask the Minister: (a) before the accident, what the obligations were for LTA to check on the MRT operators' observance of safety protocols for maintenance and operations; and (b) after the accident, will there be any new measures for LTA to check and ensure that MRT operators follow the requisite safety procedures?

Transport of the Future

Mr Zaqy Mohamad (Chua Chu Kang): Chairman, the developments in transport and its associate technology have been rapid in the last few years. Just last week, NuTonomy, a driverless car startup out of the US sets its sights on operating a fully autonomous taxi service out of Singapore.

The future of transport is arriving on our shores and sooner than we realise. I would like to ask MOT how it is preparing Singapore and keeping our regulations up to date, given the evolving transport technology trends, such as driverless vehicles, digital applications, such as Uber, as well as emerging models of vehicles using a myriad of technologies.

The difference in views between LTA and car manufacturer Tesla on test methodology for its cars earlier this year gained widespread international attention. The incident exemplifies this need for us to be ready to master new developments quickly and continuously engage new technology manufacturers to ensure that our laws, regulations and methods are up to date.

In terms of public transportation, what other developments can Singaporeans expect and how will these trends encourage greater use, provide greater confidence as well as real-time information and enhance the reliability of our own public transport system. The recent announcement of Electronic Road Pricing 2.0 (ERP2) is certainly a game changer and I am keen to know the Ministry's plans to balance the pace of transition in adopting this new technology.

Given the rapid pace of adoption, it is especially important for the Ministry to guide Singaporeans through these investments and developments. I hope the Ministry consults the public widely on the policy changes and inform them in advance of impending changes.

Autonomous Vehicles

Mr Png Eng Huat (Hougang): Sir, the potential for autonomous vehicles to play a key role in our public transport service is exciting. In a press release by LTA last October, autonomous vehicles are touted to radically transform our land transportation, especially in two key areas of constraint − land and manpower.

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The Committee on Autonomous Road Transport (CARTS) in Singapore was reported to be looking into some key roles for autonomous vehicles to complement our transport system in the hope of reducing road congestion during peak hours and manpower requirements.

While I am not sure how autonomous vehicles can help Singapore ease its constraint on land use, the technology can certainly ease the manpower crunch in the public transport arena. I do see the potential for autonomous vehicle to complement our public transport system, especially in the area of feeder bus service where the route is short and fixed and standard fare applies. I do see the potential for autonomous feeder bus service to take over from one-man-operated (OMO) bus service at night when the traffic is light and to stay operational longer as well.

Sir, I wish to ask the Ministry to share more on the roadmap for the autonomous bus service to play a key role in our public transport system. In the same vein, transport by CARTS, there was no mention of allowing private autonomous vehicles on our road. May I ask the Minister if private autonomous vehicles are also in the same roadmap to introduce self-driving vehicles on our road?

Electric Buses

Mr Ong Teng Koon (Marsiling-Yew Tee): Sir, electric bus technology has been constantly improving. Electric bus batteries can now power buses to travel longer with claimed ranges of 250 kilometres on a single four- to five-hour charge, which should be sufficient in most cases to operate for a full day without the need to recharge. Innovative technologies, such as induction charging, can further boost capacity.

The batteries themselves have also longer lifespans and are estimated to last about seven-and-a-half years with more than 4,000 recharging cycles in a lifespan. These batteries are also made in increasingly environmentally friendly ways with chemical materials in the batteries capable of being recycled. Zero tail pipe emissions also mean that electric buses provide public transportation which is cleaner and quieter. While the upfront costs are currently higher, there is growing evidence that the lifecycle costs are becoming increasingly more competitive.

Therefore, I would like to ask the Minister if he would consider using electric buses for our public transport system.

Bus Captains

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Tanjong Pagar): Chairman, I would like to declare my interest as the Executive Secretary of the National Transport Workers' Union (NTWU).

Our public bus captains carry a heavy responsibility every day when they report for work, because thousands of commuters depend on public buses to safely and promptly reach their destinations all over Singapore.

With the introduction of the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP) and the Bus Service Reliability Framework (BSRF), as well as the implementation of the Government Contracting Model (GCM), more bus captains are required in the industry. In fact, this year alone, the public bus operators seek to hire more than 3,000 bus captains.

Although the starting wages of the bus captains have increased by over 30% since 2012, more needs to be done to enhance the bus captain profession to attract more Singaporeans to join the trade as well as to retain the current crop of bus captains.

I would like to ask MOT to consider the following suggestions.

First, to make the Omnibus Driver Vocational Licence (ODVL) transferable. Bus captains currently possess this vocational licence, valid only while the holder is a bus driver with Singapore Bus Service (SBS) Transit Limited or SMRT Bus Limited. When the holder leaves the employment of an operator to work for another, the licence is no longer valid and the new employer would have to submit a fresh application.

Today, we have new and more bus operators coming into the industry by virtue of the Government contracting model. To alleviate the manpower situation in the industry, can the Ministry consider making ODVL transferable? This would facilitate our bus captains to start work at the new company without waiting for the reapplication of the licence, which can sometimes take up to an average of two months from the first point of application.

Second, we need to enhance the career progression pathway for bus captains. To do so, we need to provide a centralised structured training framework which can help deepen one's professional skills and, consequently, lead to progressive wages. Continuous training programmes should also be made accessible to bus captains at all stages of their career, for them to learn and acquire new skills.

For instance, in the past, bus captains had to do manual engine checks by lifting the heavy bonnet. Today, the checks can be conducted by simply using the dashboard at the driver's seat. Currently, the training of bus captains is decentralised to the respective public bus operators. A centralised training centre would be useful so as to standardise the basic training programmes for bus captains as well as to provide continuous training in a structured manner for them to keep up with environmental changes. Can the Ministry elaborate on any plans to enhance the training programmes for our bus captains?

Third, due to the demanding working conditions of bus captains and the gradual ageing profile, the union is naturally concerned about their health and well-being. It is, therefore, timely that we holistically review the overall working conditions of our bus captains to ensure that they are physically and mentally fit to do their job well. Some of the areas we can look at include reviewing their work schedule, ergonomics intervention and fatigue management.

Early detection and intervention can certainly help our bus captains identify and address potential health threats before they fall seriously ill. Through a recent health screening project piloted by the union involving close to 900 bus captains, we found that eight out of 10 had unhealthy BMI, blood pressure or cholesterol. I would like to urge the Ministry and the public transport operators to look into providing free annual health screenings for all bus captains and to include it as a condition inside the bus contracting model.

Next, we need to stop the abuse of bus captains. During my ground visits, I hear bus captains having bad encounters with commuters. They are often at the receiving end of verbal abuse by some commuters. Sometimes, the abuse could also be physical. Our bus captains are striving to serve the commuters well every day. They deserve some respect for their hard work and not abuse. I would like to ask for the support of the Ministry and the public transport Tripartite Partners to do more to stop the abuse of our bus captains.

Sir, there are more than 8,000 bus captains in Singapore and they serve an important duty to our society. Our bus captains deserve greater recognition than what they receive today. I hope that the Ministry can consider designating a "Bus Captains' Day" every year to recognise their dedicated contributions and service to our community.

The Chairman: Minister Khaw Boon Wan, would you wish to report on progress?