Effect of Malaysia’s Lockdown on Public Transport Operations in Singapore and Measures to Minimise Disruptions and Ensure Optimisation of Resources and Cost Efficiency
Ministry of TransportSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the impact of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order on Singapore's public transport operations and measures to ensure service continuity and resource optimization. Miss Cheng Li Hui inquired about the effects of worker displacement and declining ridership on transport systems. Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan replied that services remain stable as most Malaysian workers stayed in Singapore and duty rosters were quickly adjusted. He reported a ridership drop of over 30% due to safe distancing, prompting the Land Transport Authority to match supply with demand. Future capacity adjustments will aim to optimize resource allocation while ensuring that buses and trains remain uncrowded for passenger safety.
Transcript
4 Miss Cheng Li Hui asked the Minister for Transport (a) how will our public transport be affected by the lockdown of Malaysia since almost all operators employ Malaysians who commute to work in Singapore daily; (b) whether there will be measures targeted for affected operators so as to minimise disruption to our public transport system; (c) whether ridership has been affected due to an increasing number of people working from home; and (d) how are operators ensuring the optimisation of resources and cost-efficiency during this challenging period.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Malaysia's Movement Control Order has so far not affected our public transport services drastically. First, the number of public transport workers who remain in Malaysia is a very small proportion of the public transport workforce. Most chose to stay and work in Singapore. Second, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the public transport operators worked overnight to adjust the duty rosters promptly, to respond to the sudden announcement.
Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, public transport ridership has fallen by more than 30%. This is due to individuals and companies responding to Government’s safe distancing measures, which include telecommuting and minimising discretionary travel.
As the situation is still evolving, we will continue to work closely with public transport operators to better match supply with demand. If intensified safe distancing measures result in a significant dip in ridership, we will adjust bus and rail capacity, to optimise resource allocation. But we will do this carefully, to allow buses and trains to remain less crowded during this extraordinary period.