Number and Causes of Passenger Fatalities onboard Buses

9 Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Transport (a) how many bus passenger fatalities have there been in each year of the past 10 years; (b) what are the main causes of the fatalities; (c) whether the recent death of an 80-year-old man who lost his balance and fell on board an SBS Transit bus will expedite the planned implementation of the Bus Safety Tripartite Taskforce’s recommendations; and (d) what other measures are being considered to ensure the safety of our elderly on public buses.

The Minister of State for Transport (Mr Murali Pillai) (for the Minister for Transport): Sir, over the past 10 years, there were five bus passenger fatalities. Four of these fatalities involved elderly commuters falling onboard, while the remaining case was the result of a serious collision.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) works closely with the public bus operators to maintain and improve bus safety. Public buses in Singapore are equipped with features such as dedicated priority seats, non-slip flooring materials, bus kneeling function at bus stops, and grab bars at exit doors to facilitate boarding and alighting. Bus captains are also trained to ensure that elderly commuters are safely seated before moving off and to avoid harsh acceleration, braking or jerky movement.

LTA and the public bus operators also raise awareness amongst commuters on safe commuting practices. These include public education campaigns to promote safer habits, such as holding onto handrails or grab poles when standing or using the stairwell, and encouraging fellow commuters to look out for vulnerable commuters such as the elderly when onboard buses.

To further enhance bus safety, the Government has accepted the recommendations from the Bus Safety Tripartite Taskforce to improve the safety of commuters onboard buses. These include introducing audio reminders on our public buses to alert commuters that the bus is moving off, equipping our bus fleet with more safety technology to alert Bus Captains to potential safety risks and to modify our public buses to reduce sharp acceleration that could cause commuters to lose their balance when buses are moving off.

Mr Speaker: Mr Supaat.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister of State for his answer. I got two supplementary questions. Mr Speaker, first, it is sad to hear that 80% of the fatalities are mostly seniors, so my first supplementary question, or maybe a suggestion, is whether we can expedite the planned implementation of the Bus Safety Tripartite Task Force recommendations, especially in terms of the safety features?

Second is, as our society ages, I think we will have a lot more of our seniors who are aged above 80, and maybe even 90 or 100, taking buses if they are physically fit. How can we enhance our safety features on our buses even more going forward? For example, how we can enhance our safety features, such that the seats are closer and with really strong guardrails and a lot more guardrails, so that they can actually have a safer ride. So, could the Minister of State share on that?

Mr Murali Pillai: Sir, in response to the hon Member, Mr Saktiandi Supaat's questions, while we have unfortunately seen a few passenger fatalities in the recent years, our broader accident patterns have remained actually quite stable. The bus network serves around four million trips per day and almost all of these trips are completed safely.

Of course, we are still concerned about the ageing population and the impact of falls on board could be more serious for them. So, even as an absolute number, we have not seen a rising trend of such incidents. We have taken measures such as improving the design of our public buses to have dedicated priority seats, and the hon Member would note that these seats are usually at the exits, and also having non-slip flooring materials.

As part of the enhancements recommended by the Bus Safety Tripartite Task Force, we are also looking into new technological tools and regular refresher training for our Bus Captains in safe and defensive driving techniques. We are working with the bus operators to progressively implement the recommendations of the task force from the second half of 2025. More details will be shared at a later date.