LTA to add 23 services to Bus Reliability Framework trial

Singapore — Twenty-three bus services will be added to the Bus Service Reliability Framework (BSRF) trial and will be assessed under tighter standards, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said today (June 5).

Besides doubling the number of services under the trial to 45, a new indicator to measure the punctuality of bus services will also be tested on two low-frequency services, it added.

The 23 services to be added to the trial in phases this month and in December include a mix of long and short trunk routes and feeder services across the island.

The BSRF was introduced in February last year to improve the regularity of bus arrivals and reduce bus bunching. Twenty of the 22 services on trial showed better regularity in the first assessment period from June to November last year.

On the new indicator it is testing on two low-frequency services (those with headways exceeding 15 minutes), the LTA said it would be measuring the percentage of on-time arrivals at selected bus stops. The only previous indicator was based on the average additional waiting time commuters experience at bus stops compared with the expected waiting time.

The LTA explained that for low-frequency services, “adherence to arrival timetables is more pertinent”.

A bus arriving at a bus stop is considered on time if it is no more than two minutes early and no more than five minutes late. Buses are required to be on time for at least 85 per cent of arrivals, it said.

To qualify for incentives, bus services must have more than 87 per cent of trips arriving on time. Conversely, services are penalised if less than 83 per cent of trips arrive on time.

The trial of this new On-Time Adherence indicator will allow the authority to make refinements before rolling it out to other services as part of the bus contracting model, said the LTA. With the transition to bus contracting, the authority will bring all bus services under the BSRF from the second half of next year.