Wait Times for Pedestrians at Signalised Junctions

1 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Acting Minister for Transport (a) what is the median and maximum programmed wait time for pedestrians at signalised junctions; (b) whether pedestrians are currently prioritised in traffic signal timing logic and, if not, whether the Land Transport Authority will consider prioritising them; and (c) whether the Ministry will reduce maximum wait times to under 60 seconds.

The Minister of State for Transport (Mr Baey Yam Keng) (for the Acting Minister for Transport): Speaker, the median and maximum waiting time for pedestrians at signalised junctions are 120 seconds and 140 seconds respectively.

Wait times for pedestrians depend on the nature of road, junction size and configuration, as well as prevailing traffic volume. For example, waiting times at signalised junctions of Friendly Streets, which we are expanding to every town by 2030, are under 60 seconds.

Mr Speaker: Mr Giam.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): I thank the Minister of State for the reply. Sir, the Land Transport Authority's (LTA's) 2018 Transport Impact Assessment guidelines reflect a shift to prioritise mass transport and active mobility, which includes walking over private transport modes. Can the Minister of State give some examples of how this translates into shorter pedestrian wait times and more pedestrian priority, other than the Friendly Streets initiative, which only covers a few intersections in a few towns? Does the Government intend to give greater priority to pedestrians for all intersections, including the older ones?

And secondly, the Minister of State said that the maximum time is 140 seconds? That is almost two and a half minutes. Does the Minister of State agreed that a wait time of almost two and a half minutes in Singapore's hot and humid climate, can be a bit too long and can the maximum time be reduced further, as much as to 60 seconds?

And thirdly, do most signalised intersections currently use a fixed time signal, or do they change according to demand?

And the last question is very fast one: does pressing the green man button, does that shorten the wait time, or does that just signal that the pedestrian is waiting at the junction?

Mr Baey Yam Keng: Sir, the configuration for signal timing needs to strike a balance among all the users of the junction, whether vehicles on the roads or pedestrians. And while I appreciate that the Member has concern for people waiting longer at the traffic junction, waiting for the green man, we also have to take account for traffic. Traffic is not just private vehicles. It also includes public buses, which need to stick to a schedule to make sure they bring commuters to work on time. So, we do need to look at the interest of all parties, which will be affected by changes in the traffic light timings.

Having said that, we do take a look at the junctions in question. So, we mentioned that there is a median time; it is not a fixed time for every junction. We look at the configuration, the volume of pedestrians and traffic, so that we are able to achieve an optimal situation to balance the different needs.

We do have dynamic systems that are able to track traffic volume. We are working on a better system where at certain junctions we might want to install cameras at the pedestrian waiting area to track pedestrian volume and whether we are able to build that capability to also incorporate pedestrian data to adjust traffic lights timings dynamically. But it will to be within a certain range.

As for the green man, the Member was talking about pressing the button, whether that activates it faster? I think depends on the junction. For some, it does turn faster; and for some, there are some crossings where the lights do not usually change because it has a very low pedestrian crossing volume. And therefore, the lights are green in the favour of traffic, and unless someone presses it and then, it will turn red or have the green man turned on for the pedestrian. So, it serves a variety of functions. We will customise it for the need of the particular crossing and where possible, we use technology data from the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) 2.0 system to allow us to better assess the needs, the different needs, and then to achieve a more optimal situation for all.