Training of Bus Captains in Inclusive Service Delivery to Assist Commuters with Special Needs

40 Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether the public transport operators are required to train their bus captains in inclusive service delivery to assist commuters with special needs; (b) if so, what is the current proportion of bus captains who have been trained; and (c) whether the Ministry studies feedback from such commuters on service rendered to them by bus captains.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport (Mr Baey Yam Keng) (for the Minister for Transport): Mr Speaker, Sir, all public transport operators (PTOs) have training programmes to equip bus captains (BCs) with the skills to communicate with and assist commuters with special needs. PTOs also often share information on commuter inclusiveness to all BCs through their mobile applications to reiterate the importance of inclusivity.

In addition, since November 2016, all new BCs are trained to identify and assist commuters with special needs as part of the Enhanced Vocational Licence Training Programme. This programme is conducted by the Singapore Bus Academy and all prospective BCs are required to attend it before obtaining their Omnibus Drivers' Vocational Licence. To date, over 6,300 BCs have graduated from this programme.

Training materials are regularly reviewed based on feedback from commuters with special needs, as well as their caregivers, other members of public and various social service agencies.

The Caring SG Commuters Committee, which was set up in 2020, also conducts regular engagements with commuters, including those with special needs, to gather feedback on their public transport experience. The Committee also works with the community to co-create solutions to improve their commuting experience and build a gracious and caring commuting culture. For example, through the Caring Commuter Champion initiative, we are growing a group of volunteers trained to offer assistance to commuters with mobility needs during their daily commute.

Mr Speaker: Mr Saktiandi Supaat.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for his detailed answer. It is especially good to hear that there is a detailed programme on inclusive service delivery. The reason why I asked this Parliamentary Question is also because of a resident's feedback, in the case of a child with special needs on a stroller that tried to get on board a bus. The bus captain did not offer any help simply because of the definition of a stroller, compared to a wheelchair, in that sort of scenario.

My supplementary question is, despite the detailed programme on inclusive service delivery that has been laid out by the Senior Parliamentary Secretary just now, whether in the interim, in the transition, can we improve discretionary elements embedded by bus captains going forward to deal with such issues, especially the definition of "strollers" for special needs children or adults, relative to "wheelchair" definitions.

Mr Baey Yam Keng: Mr Speaker, Sir, for all wheelchair users on buses, the bus captains will be trained to activate the ramp to enable the wheelchair to go on board. In the case of a stroller, it might be less evident that the child or the caregiver has needs that the BC should offer assistance.

But, in general, when commuters have mobility needs or are with children in strollers, they definitely should and could approach the BCs for help if they need to. That is why, in this journey of us providing a more inclusive commuting experience, it is a continuous effort to equip the BCs to be mindful of the different needs of different commuters and some needs are invisible. A child or person with special needs may, sometimes, not be apparent to others that that person needs help.

That is why we also introduced a lanyard, where people with such needs can wear so that they are more identifiable by PT workers.

I would suggest to the Member that his resident or commuter with such experience should give the direct feedback to the PTOs, so that the PTOs could incorporate such anecdotes into their training programme and the BCs are better equipped with knowledge to look out for such cases.

I would just want to add also that for a successful inclusive commuting culture, it is not just the work of PTOs, BCs or PT workers. It is where every commuter can play a part as well. So, in that case, the caregiver, the mother could have also asked a fellow commuter whether the person could help her to bring the stroller up to the bus.

That is why the Caring SG Commuters Committee is promoting a caring and gracious commuting culture within our public transport services. And the launch of the online training course for the certification and training of Caring Commuter Champions will help us to reach out to more commuters. We hope that more members of public will come on board this Caring Commuter Champion initiative.