More family-friendly facilities likely at bus terminals, train stations by second quarter of 2018

SINGAPORE — The new Family-Friendly Land Transport Advisory Panel is looking into introducing a series of amenities and facilities to the land transport system by the second quarter of 2018, said its co-chairman Sitoh Yih Pin on Friday (June 30).

These include more priority queues at bus terminals and MRT stations, as well as more dual-speed escalators at the train stations for passengers such as those with special needs or the elderly to use during off-peak hours.

“What we want to achieve in our land transport system is to be inclusive, we’re going to cover various categories of commuters and potential ones. We want those agnostic to public transport to be able to use public transport,” said Mr Sitoh, who is chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Transport.

Apart from Mr Sitoh and co-chairman Richard Magnus, chairman of Public Transport Council (PTC), the panel has six other representatives from key stakeholder groups, such as academia, grassroots, parents with young children, senior citizens and people with special needs.

To ensure that the panel receives “practical” and “conducive” recommendations, focus group discussions will also be held between July and September. The government feedback unit REACH will also conduct an online survey in August.

The panel’s findings will be submitted to Dr Lam Pin Min, Senior Minister of State (Transport), for review. If they are accepted, the findings will be incorporated into the next Land Transport Plan in 2018.

Panel member Lu Jia Hui, a full-time working mother with three adolescent children, said she is most concerned about their safety on the roads when they go to school and enrichment classes.

“I’d like more lighting in pathways, because it gets very dark during stormy weather, (have) more shelter in areas where they’re (the children) walking between blocks, like from the bus stops to the train stations. Another concern would be having sufficient time to cross the roads when the green man is on, so they don’t have to dash across,” said Ms Lu, 42.

To cater to needs of new mothers, the panel is also looking into having nursing rooms at bus interchanges and integrated transport hubs. This is on top of the recent move to allow unfolded strollers on buses.

“The obvious issue is moving around when you’re carrying things like the diaper bag, and your child,” said another panel member, Ms Rahayu Mahzam, who is also a Member of Parliament for Jurong Group Representation Constituency.

Ms Rahayu, 35, who had her first child in April, believes that the infrastructure leading up to MRT stations and bus terminals are of utmost importance when it comes to making these areas more family-friendly.

“It eases the movement, and very much so for parents with strollers, people with special needs, and people using wheelchairs,” she said.

From interacting with persons with physical disabilities during her active volunteering work, Ms Anita Fam, who is also on the panel, has found that the most common issues raised by them are “practical things, like the difference in height between curbs and buses, and the gaps between curbs and trains”.

Ms Fam, 54, who is vice-president of the National Council of Social Service, also noted that extending the scope of tactile marks on the roads and providing appropriate signage for the visually impaired are crucial in helping to make the transport hubs more family-friendly.