Calculation of Public Transport Accessibility Level Values in Provision of Public Transport
Ministry of TransportSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Ms Hazel Poa’s inquiry regarding the use of Public Transport Accessibility Level (PTAL) values to identify underserved areas and the possibility of publishing these scores for new BTO developments. Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat explained that the Land Transport Authority adopts a holistic planning approach considering both supply and demand, whereas PTAL is a purely supply-side, static measure. He stated that providing PTAL scores to prospective applicants is not meaningful because transport infrastructure is progressively developed to support new housing projects as they are completed. Consequently, the Land Transport Authority works with the Housing and Development Board to provide information on existing and future transport nodes in sales collaterals instead. These details include current and planned Mass Rapid Transit stations, Light Rail Transit stations, and bus interchanges to help buyers make informed decisions.
Transcript
29 Ms Hazel Poa asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether LTA calculates Public Transport Accessibility Level (PTAL) values in their Transport Impact Assessments for developments based on different (i) subzones (ii) planning areas or (iii) regions of Singapore to determine which areas are under-served by public transport; and (b) if so, which are the (i) subzones (ii) planning areas or (iii) regions that have the lowest PTAL values and are considered under-served by public transport.
30 Ms Hazel Poa asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether LTA can work with HDB to make public the Public Transport Accessibility Level values of new BTO developments, so that prospective applicants can consider the accessibility of BTO developments by public transport; and (b) if not, why not.
Mr Chee Hong Tat: In planning for public transport, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) adopts a holistic approach by considering both travel demand and existing public transport options using indicators, such as ridership data, land use plans and projections of travel patterns. The Public Transport Accessibility Level (PTAL) is a purely supply-side indicator, measuring the availability of public transport for a given location. However, it does not account for travel demand and ridership patterns and does not fully reflect whether an area is well-served by public transport.
For individual commuters, the PTAL score for a given area will not indicate how well their specific travel needs will be met. In addition, PTAL scores are a static measure of existing levels of public transport provision at the time of calculation. It is, therefore, not meaningful to provide a PTAL score to prospective Build-To-Order (BTO) applicants at the point of launch as LTA and the Housing and Development Board (HDB) will typically develop additional transport infrastructure to support new BTO developments as they are completed.
Instead, to help prospective flat buyers make an informed decision, LTA works with HDB to provide information to BTO applicants in HDB's sales collaterals on existing and future transport nodes around new housing developments, such as Mass Rapid Transit stations, Light Rail Transit stations and bus interchanges.