LTA to make improvements to Little India bus-boarding areas

SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will make several improvements to the bus-boarding area at Tekka Lane, such as paving the ground, to make waiting “tolerable” for foreign workers, the Committee of Inquiry (COI) hearing into the Little India riot heard today (Mar 17).

The authority’s group director of Public Transport, Mr Yeo Teck Guan, revealed this after the COI raised the concerns flagged last week by private bus operators about the transport-related curbs that were imposed in the aftermath of the riot. Some of the precautionary measures taken after the riot included cutting down the operating hours of private buses from 2pm to 11pm to 2pm to 9pm.

Specifically, the Singapore School Transport Association noted that the shortage of buses ferrying workers back to their dormitories from Little India was a tinderbox.

Mr Michael Tan, a representative of the Singapore School and Private Hire Bus Owners’ Association (SSPHBOA), whose association has a designated spot at Hampshire Road for picking up workers, agreed that there has been “overspill” of workers trying to board the buses, which run on Sundays, for about 10 to 15 minutes after 9pm.

However, he noted that the crowd is “manageable”, and attributed the last-minute rush of passengers to human nature.

Former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Shriniwas Rai, who also testified today, urged the inquiry to look into issues affecting the welfare of migrant workers. “There are pockets of land in Little India which are empty and they could be utilised for recreational activated for the migrant workers,” he said.